


Say Yes to Us

by kaneshon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adults, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Childhood Friends, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sasuke/Naruto - Freeform, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Husbands, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Naruto is Just Naruto, Oblivious Uzumaki Naruto, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Protective Uzumaki Naruto, Romance, Same-Sex Marriage, Sasuke Is Bad At Feelings, Slow Burn, Spirit Animals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26048800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaneshon/pseuds/kaneshon
Summary: In a modern world where humans have two spirit, one of their own and another a spirit-creature to aid their lives, Naruto; a fox-spirit born and Sasuke; a demon-spirit born, have been friends since they were preteens.Their 13-years-long friendship however is put to the test to be something more when Sasuke presented the idea of marriage to Naruto. Proposing to him for the sake of shutting the Uchiha clan, one of the oldest and most powerful clan in Japan, council up about marriage and for Naruto's parents to stop nagging him about his non-existent love life, they embark on a new chapter in their lives; having to navigate disgruntled council members, the apparent social hierarchy differences and the appearance of an ex-fiance Sasuke had seemed to forget to mention.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 45
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. 
> 
> A/N: Oh lookie here, another multi-chaptered fan fic... /stares at the other stories I have yet to complete/. BUT BUT--in my defence, I kinda really liked this idea and wanted to quickly write it so...tadaaaaaaaaaa! Also note, been years since I watched Naruto, so their characterisations might be off. Sorry!
> 
> Before you get into the story, there's a few things you need to know about this world. I do know a similar concept of spirit animal has been done before, but I would like to explain my version a bit more so you could understand! 
> 
> Briefly, the setting is modern world where everything's the same except for the fact that humans are born with their normal soul and a spirit-creature. Spirit-creatures in the sense could be anything from a cat to something as powerful as a demon. These spirit-creatures do enhance some abilities in humans but it depends on which and what spirit-creature you get. Some just gives you a little more speed to run or a little more strength. You're still human, you just have an extra ability due to your spirit-creature. In most cases, you would have extra speed in your run, extra sharp eyes or strength. You do not transform into these creatures. None. In some powerful spirit-creature cases, its power could bleed through to physical marring like changing of eye colour or a mark on your face. But that's about it. As you can tell, because of the abilities you'd get with your spirit-creature, social hierarchy exists but not to the extreme. In traditional clans harbouring powerful spirit-creatures, they uphold their status highly. But in most cases, people don't really care much though, social norms still subconsciously will behave politer with a more powerful person. 
> 
> Anywayyyysss, I think that's all I want to make note of this world, hm. If there's more, I'd toss it in the story or in A/Ns. I don't know tbh if any of that made any sense whatsoever, and I don't even know if it'll play much part besides at the start, but wanted to share that anyways. Okay--with that said, I also did some basic research into old Japanese housing and traditional clothing. Mentioned it like once, lol but wanted to get it tad right? Dunno if I did nail it but if it's not, lemme know and I'll correct it!
> 
> WITH THAT SAID, here's the first chapter of what I'm hopefully thinking would be a 5-8 part story! Until the next chapter and I sincerely hope you enjoy this! <3

Naruto choked on his ramen as he stared at his best friend whom he had had known since he was thirteen. The dark eyes that he had come to know so well bored into his blue ones, calm and unnerved with what he had just said. The words rung in the air, waiting to be answered. Tan hands lowered the warm bowl of ramen on the wooden table they were at. His heart skipped a beat when he realised that this man in front of him was serious; thinned lips and a monotonous expression that only he could wear well. 

“ _What_?” Naruto blurted out, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

A slight grimace crossed the pale man’s face before he grabbed a few tissue from the box next to them, shoving it at Naruto. Grabbing it with clumsy fingers, he wiped his mouth before tossing the crumpled tissues next to his bowl. 

“Marry me.” The words were spoken so softly, so firmly without a single flinch that Naruto realised that he _hadn’t_ heard it wrong the first time. The look of shock on his face must’ve been on for too long for Sasuke’s liking because a dark eyebrow twitched the longer he remained silent. “It’s not like I asked you to jump off a building, idiot.”

“Idiot?” Naruto screeched, his voice louder than he intended. Thankfully the small ramen shop was almost empty of people at this time of night. “I’m the idiot?” He pointed a finger at himself. “I’m not the one who asked his best friend to marry him out of nowhere!” Glancing at the half-eaten ramen, he huffed a breath. “I knew something was up the second you dragged me away from campus and told me you’d treat me to ramen. You _hate_ ramen!”

“I don’t hate ramen,” Sasuke said, the corner of his lips twitched upwards just for a second. “I just prefer healthier options.”

“That isn’t what we’re talking about!” Naruto jabbed a finger at his friend’s chest. “The fuck? What the hell do you mean marry you? Why should I marry you?”

Sasuke searched his face before he rolled his eyes. That movement irritated the blond-haired man, close to tossing his chopsticks at that face. Naruto had been working on his thesis and decided to linger at the lab to check on his cultures. The next thing he knew, it was almost one in the morning and Sasuke had called him up to ask if he was still at Konoha University. 

He didn’t expect Sasuke to treat him dinner—ramen at that when he confirmed that he was. Naruto hadn’t blinked twice and had gathered his stuff as quick as possible when he found out his best friend of thirteen years was paying. Filthy rich and now currently running his family business, Sasuke was everything a guy strived to be. Powerful, good looking and had an attitude that could sway all the women to his side with just a look. 

Not that Naruto _agreed_. The guy had such a prickly personality that he was surprised that the man still managed to keep his fan club strong even years after their school days were over. But he supposed that was the allure of a demon-spirit heir to a well known clan in Japan.

In this world where humans were born with a secondary spirit-creature to aid their path in life, Sasuke had one of the rarest and most powerful secondary spirit-creature; the demon. 

Naruto had always envied him for it. His own spirit had been a fox, nothing too special. It had given him speed and agility, and even whisker marks on his face if he needed the creature spirit but it didn’t really help in any other parts of his life, not really. But for Sasuke, his spirit creature gave him strength and a certain aura that always managed to make the world stop spinning. Belonging to the upper class of society, he was a force to be reckon with. 

Well…until now that was. 

Until he opened his mouth and spoke those two words that had shattered Naruto’s illusion of his friend. Because surely his friend was suffering from a concussion or just a case of stupidity. 

“Oi,” Naruto said, croaking out when he realised that Sasuke had turned back to eating his ramen as if he hadn’t heard his panicked questions. “Oi!” He kicked Sasuke’s shin from under the table, triumphed when his friend choked on his food, lifting his head to glare at him. “The fuck? Answer me, asshole! Why the hell do you want to marry me?”

Sasuke placed his bowl on the table, hunching forward for a second to no doubt rub his leg before he sat straighter. His dark eyes bored into his blue ones again and Naruto hated how he always felt self-conscious under his stare like that. Resisting the urge to fidget where he sat, he narrowed his eyes, not backing down from the silent challenge of keeping the eye-contact going. 

At last, Sasuke sighed. “The clan council is urging me to marry. They keep tossing pretty faces with no brains or with serious case of hero worship at me. I’ve tried to weasel out of it but they pushed me too far this week that I…” It was the first time Naruto saw him actually hesitate. It wasn’t like there was remorse in those eyes, but the way his words ended in a silence, it was clear that he was loss for words. 

“I what?” Naruto asked, having a suspicion that he knew where this was going. 

“I said I already have plans to marry someone,” Sasuke said. “I named you.”

Naruto groaned as he thumped his forehead against the wooden table a few times. His face was warm from the declaration and his heart raced against his chest, but most of all he was annoyed at this change of events. He loved his best friend, but he had never thought of him as anything more than a close friend. Now, he was forced to reevaluate that with the idea of marriage. He paused. 

Why was he considering this offer in the first place?

He raised his head, ready to argue when Sasuke leaned forward and said, “I can’t marry someone else, Naruto. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with someone I care nothing for.”

“You can date,” Naruto said. “You used to date that fox-spirited woman—”

“She was a gold digger,” Sasuke said, voice flat. “You knew that.”

Naruto winced. He nodded. “Right…” 

The woman had sneered at Naruto when he had come to see Sasuke a few months ago and had accused of him trying to steal her man. He didn’t understand the hostility—but then again this wasn’t the first time Sasuke’s girlfriends found fault in him. The fact that the pale man kept dating women with secondary spirit of a fox had him wondering if they found his presence threatening due to him having fox-spirit as well. But that didn’t make sense either. 

_He_ didn’t feel threatened by them. 

Sure…he disliked all of them after one look but he never _snarled_ or even tried to claw their eyes out when drunk. 

Alright, he admitted he had imagined the scenario when one of his girlfriends got too bitchy with him. But that was not the point. 

“Why me again?” Naruto frowned. 

Sasuke remained silent for a few seconds, his eyes glimmering in undefeated courage. “I only trust you. You’re the only one I trust the most. With my life, with my hopes and dreams.”

Those words settled deep in his heart, constricting his chest until he was breathless. His eyes widened as he stared at the man. The man whom he had known since he was a preteen. Always so serious, so stoic and wouldn’t even speak his mind unless Naruto pried it out of him. Now…now he was saying the words he had suspected but never had a chance to confirm. 

His fingers shook as he curled them to form fists. Placing his hands on his lap, he took in a deep breath. 

“And you couldn’t find someone else who you could—”

“You know the answer to that.” Sasuke’s words were short but they cut his doubts in half. 

And brought in panic with that. He thinned his lips, wondering with suspicion if this behaviour was why his girlfriends hated him. He wasn’t blind. He noticed the way Sasuke had treated him compared to his companions. He thought he had been thinking too much about it but when his best friend left his girlfriend at a bar without a second glance when Naruto had called screaming about a mice in his apartment a year ago—he had grown suspicious about his best friend and how he viewed their friendship. 

But he didn’t gather the courage to ask. Not yet. 

Not even now. 

“You hate spending time with someone new that much?” Naruto tried to joke but his words fell flat. 

“You don’t have someone new with you,” Sasuke said, pointing at him. “You never dated. Never made time for someone else besides me and a few of our friends. And I can’t see you changing that habit. Why not just marry me and end your parents’ worry about you being alone forever?”

His face heated up further, spluttering at the words coming out of his friend’s mouth. “How the hell did you know my parents were nagging me about that?” Sasuke simply stared at him and Naruto had a sinking feeling he knew how. Slamming a fist on the table, he hissed, “You told them?”

“I asked their permission,” his best friend said, not even batting his eyelash. “Last week.”

“What the fuck?” Naruto searched that face he knew so well before he sighed. “You want to marry me. You want to marry me and still be friends?”

“If you want,” Sasuke said as he crossed his arms against his chest. “Just marry me so we can end my council nagging at me and your parents worrying about you. It’s a win-win situation.”

“Win-win situation…” Naruto scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Right and what happens if we fall in love with each other, huh?” Because there was no way he could pretend nothing between them had changed if they tied the knot. “What would you do if I fell for you?”

“Then you fall for me and we try becoming more,” Sasuke said, his voice dry. “We’ll take it one day at a time. Just say yes, Naruto.”

The way he said it was so smooth, as if it wasn’t anything big to propose to your friend and go with the flow. He tapped his finger on the table before he stood up. He grabbed his bag and took out his wallet, tossing a few bills next to his ramen. Sasuke stared at him from where he sat, keeping his gaze on him. 

“I’ll…” Naruto said, choking on his words, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll think about it.”

Sasuke nodded and before his best friend could say anything, he fled from the scene, heart racing against his chest. 

Fuck, what the hell was wrong with Sasuke?

***

Naruto hadn’t answered any of his messages nor had he made a move to call Sasuke since that night. It had been three days since then and he had thrown himself in his lab work. Staring at the cultures through his microscope, his white lab coat became itchy the longer he wore it. The ticking clock on the wall stole his attention, noting that it was almost ten in the evening. A yawn escaped his mouth as he went back to jot down his results, deciding he was done for tonight. It was then he grabbed his phone, checking for any messages. When he opened his messaging app, he noticed Sasuke’s unread messages. He sighed, exiting the app to open his photo gallery. There, in a folder he created just to store pictures of his best friend, he looked through all of the photos they took. 

Most of these pictures were taken without Sasuke knowing; like the one where the taller man had been lying on his shoulder as they rode on a bus to get to a bookshop in his hometown. Sasuke hated having his picture taken but Naruto cherished these. And maybe it was because of this familiarity that they had established between them but he couldn’t imagine a life without Sasuke. He hadn’t had a good friend when he was younger, and when a boy with emotionless eyes and strict demeanour walked into the classroom one day—he had made his decision to be his friend. 

But now…now they had hit a roadblock on their friendship. And Naruto didn’t know how he felt about it. 

Marriage. 

And love. 

He tapped his phone against his chin.

Could he love Sasuke as more than a friend? 

A part of him wanted to take that challenge because Sasuke was right. Dating and meeting new people was exhausting and he would rather use the time in his lab and work on his thesis and research. He had always been comfortable with his best friend and he didn’t think he had to change that. It never occurred to him that one day Sasuke had to be away from him. It was an unfathomable idea. 

But now he realised that it was a weird thought. To think that Sasuke would be here with him forever without being attached to anyone. 

With the idea of marriage now on the table, Naruto had to decide if he wanted to try. 

Because he had an inkling Sasuke would. With the way he looked at him and put him first in everything—he hadn’t been like that a few years back. It started somewhere in their second year of university and it had become a norm. Another layer Naruto liked. 

It was then his phone dinged causing him to look at the latest message he received. Sakura was inviting him out for a drink. His friend from university whom he had come to rely on after Sasuke since they were in the same course. Agreeing without hesitating, he grabbed his stuff and took off his lab coat. 

He needed advice. 

***

Sakura choked on her sake, her green eyes widening. She placed her chopstick on the low, wooden table, adjusting the way she sat. The grill in front of them continued to cook the meat, the red turning darker into brown. Naruto glanced at her before looking back at it, poking the meat with his chopsticks. 

“Sasuke did what?” she whispered, lowering her voice. “Marriage? Are you both dating?”

Face warming at that notion, he huffed a breath. “No,” he said. “We’re just friends.”

“Then?” Sakura frowned. “What the hell? It’s the same Uchiha, right? The one I saw once during one our study sessions? The one who glared at me like I mortally offended him.”

“You didn’t offend him,” Naruto said, denying it. Sasuke had been in a prissy mood that day and when Naruto had asked him to fetch his book from his dorm room, the man had barely gotten three hours of sleep juggling his studies and the internship in his family company. “He was just tired.”

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. “Right. And now he wants to marry you.”

“He wants to stop his clan council from annoying him,” Naruto said as he sighed. “I don’t know, Sakura. I want to help him. But marriage?”

“I mean, why not?” She blinked when he looked at her. “Don’t you like him?”

“I do like him,” Naruto said before he realised what she meant. He spluttered. “Not like that! I meant as friends!”

Sakura frowned again. “What? Really?”

Naruto was a little lost at the look of disbelief on her face. “Yes,” he said, drawling carefully. “Stop looking like I’m lying! Did you think I was in love with him or something?”

She hummed, reaching to grab a cooked meat to eat. “Well…”

Naruto was baffled. He placed his chopsticks on the table before he grabbed his drink. Sipping on it, he pondered on the look on her face. The slight panic he had felt from the other night came back slithering in his chest again. 

“Why…did you think I was in love with him?” he asked, at last, his voice quiet. 

Sakura sighed. “I mean, I thought both of you were, you know, dating. It was just clear to me. Sasuke looks at you like…”

A lump formed in his throat. “Like what?”

“Like,” Sakura said, her green eyes searched his face. “Like you’re everything he needs.”

Naruto looked down at the table, staring at the utensils and plate full of meat. He would be lying if he didn’t notice the look. Those look he would receive once in a while before his favourite monotonous mask covered those eyes, they were sometimes so—warm. So warm that it had seized his heart and didn’t let him go. He couldn’t remember when he had first seen that look, but he was catching it more and more nowadays. 

And he wondered like a fool if he would see it more often if he agreed to marry him. Cheeks warming at the thought, he grabbed a meat and stuffed it into his mouth. 

“Let’s eat,” Naruto said, mouth full of food, eliciting a disgusted look from his friend. “It’s going to get cold.”

Sakura wisely didn’t comment on the change of subject. At the end, she simply gave him an exasperated sigh with a smile, eating. 

All the while, Naruto’s mind kept coming back to what she had said. What she had concluded before she found out the truth about them. 

Did others thought the same? Did they look at him and Sasuke and assume they were together? 

As his heart skipped a beat, he couldn’t answer why he didn’t dislike that thought.

***

He stared at his parents from the screen of his computer. His mother’s smile was bright, her eyes sparkling in mirth while his father simply raised his eyebrows. He placed his face on the palm of his right hand while his other hand drummed its fingers on the kitchen table. He had been waiting for his parents to call him, to demand about Sasuke asking his hand for marriage. But when he didn’t even hear a peep, merely occasionally calls as if his best friend hadn’t tossed his entire life upside down, he had caved and called his parents. 

Now, they were staring at him as if they didn’t understand why Naruto was interrogating them. 

“Really?” he asked, drawling his words. “You’re not even going to object to me marrying Sasuke?”

His father shrugged. “Why should we? We know Sasuke. He’s a good kid.”

“Naruto, dear,” his mother said, smiling brightly. “You could’ve just said you and Sasuke were together, you know. We would’ve stopped nagging you about finding someone if we knew! Do you think we wouldn’t understand?”

His father nodded. 

Naruto blinked at what his parents had said before he said, “What? No—”

“Sasuke’s a nice man,” his mother said. “Always calling us once in a while to check up on us, he’s such a dear.”

“He _what_?” Naruto tilted his head to one side. “Since when?”

“Since your degree days,” his mother said, her voice dipping in slight disapproval. “When you would forget to call me on certain weeks…”

He winced at that. There were times he lost himself in his work that he sometimes forgot to keep his promise to call his mother every week. And he often felt guilty about it. But now he felt like he had opened a part of his life he didn't think he had at this discovery. Had Sasuke really slotted into his life so deeply without him even realising it?

His throat dried at that because he…didn’t dislike it. 

He hummed, looking away as he took in the silence in his house. 

“Darling,” his mother said, “what’s wrong?”

Naruto turned his gaze back at the computer screen. Staring at his parents’ face, the gears in his head worked. “Marrying Sasuke would make you both happy?” 

“Well,” his father said, shrugging. “We know the kid and you’ve always placed him above anything.He also knows how to take care of you when we can’t.”

“What does that supposed to mean?” he whined. 

“Your eating habits,” his mother said, huffing. “Remember that one time during your undergraduate degree, you fell sick over eating too many ramen? Sasuke had been such a kind soul to take care of you when we couldn’t come back soon enough.” 

Naruto’s face heated up at that memory. He remembered only vaguely due to his fever making things hazy. He was sure the ramen was only partly the reason why he fell sick but he couldn’t deny that his parents were right. Sasuke had taken the entire week off from lectures just to take care of him. He grumbled once in a while, and he would scold him when Naruto whined a little too much but he had…always been so soft with him. So careful. And when his fever shot up that one night to the point he had to be dragged to the hospital, he vaguely remembered the fear in those eyes. 

Had Sasuke always took care of him so well?

Silence in his apartment washed over him before he looked back at the darkened living room. It was so quiet. So…empty. And whenever Sasuke came around, it was as if his presence alone filled the emptiness here. 

A little dumbfounded at the realisation that his life was really intertwined with Sasuke’s, he looked back at his parents. 

“I guess he does take care of me well, doesn’t he?” Naruto said, voice quiet as his thoughts jumped from one memory to the next. 

When his mother’s face softened, he knew that they thought the same too.

***

He stared at his phone, Sasuke’s number flashing on his screen. He hadn’t pressed on his name to call yet, but he didn’t think he could do it. As he was standing in the packed train heading to Sasuke’s neighbourhood, his heart hammered against his chest. It had been another three days of pondering before—he made up his mind. 

And when he had made peace with the decision, the ease and rightness of it all calmed him down. Anxiety and panic of the thought died, as if it was never there. And then there was this click in his mind. As if a blindfold had been taken off of his eyes and he could see everything clearer. 

It terrified him. 

He had pondered if he should call Sasuke to let him know he wanted to see him. 

But then he _knew_ that those words would stop him. Would halt him. He would just have to catch the man off guard then. And if Sasuke wasn’t home, then he would wait for him in his room. It wasn’t the first time he did that. 

When the train finally stopped at the place he wanted, he got out, breathing a little easy. Getting out of the train station, wind blew at his face as he saw more trees and less building. A smile crawled on his lips, walking to the direction of Sasuke’s house. He decided against a cab, just so he could clear his mind and practise the words he wanted to say. For the first time in his life, he was far more nervous than he had ever been. 

When he entered the neighbourhood, he could almost _feel_ the shift in the air. The neighbourhood had grey, concrete walls and then houses after every entrance. Same old houses just with decorations from the years of change. The shift in the air however was the most apparent when the walls shifted from grey into blue paint. Navy blue. And just at the start of the navy blue walls was a sign. A sign attached in the middle of an arch made out of metal, joining one end of a building on the right to the left side of the road. Written on the sign indicated that he was entering the Uchiha clan territory.

The Uchiha clan. One of the oldest clan in Japan, and one of the rarest clans to carry demon-spirit creature in every generation. And he could feel the power, rendering him a little weak as he stepped into the compound. As if his presence was notified, the leaves of a large tree planted next to the right of the arch shook before a large gust of wind carried that to all the other trees in the compound. 

Taking in a deep breath, he steeled himself and continued to walk further inside. Passing by one after another grand house, he finally found the largest house, just right in front of him, decorated in reds and navy blue and hints of white. The Uchiha clan crest was pressed against large metal doors, blocking the rest of the compound from the big house behind it. Pressing a hand against the cool entrance, he pushed one door inwards. It was open. He supposed it had to be if the leader of the clan was in there. Stepping into the large lawn, he closed the gate behind him, noting the serenity in the air. 

On his left and right, there were large patches of grass lawn, separated by a beige pathway where its sides were decorated with white rocks, arranged in an orderly fashion. Trees, large trees were on his left followed by a pond right in front of the tree. On his right, the lawn opened to a larger land, stretching all the way to the back of the house. From afar, he could see a red bridge across a large pond and at the end of the bridge, there was a small house with upturned roof ends, sliding doors surrounding each side of the building. 

He knew that small house well, detached from the main house; it was place for guests to rest should they wish to stay the night. 

He and Sasuke had sneaked in there when they were younger to drink, just to satisfy the rebellious phase of theirs. 

A fond sigh escaped his lips as he forced his feet to walk up to the large house. Climbing a few steps, he stared at the sliding doors. After a brief hesitation, he opened it, eyeing the _genkan_ where a few shoes were arranged neatly in front of him. There seemed to be a bit more shoes than usual. One of the workers here, a female caretaker wearing a light pink kimono was scurrying past him before she paused at his arrival. She bowed a little at him. Naruto recognised her immediately, having been here many times before. 

“Uzumaki-san,” she said. “Ah, are you looking for Young Master?”

“Yeah,” Naruto said, giving her a brief smile at Sasuke’s nickname here. “Not home yet?”

“Ah,” she said, giving him a weak smile back. “He’s currently in conference with the clan council members at the moment. If you don’t mind, you can wait for him in his room as usual.”

Naruto perked at that, nodding. She nodded back before hurrying away. He took off his shoes before stepping deeper into the house. He knew where the meeting usually took place—and a part of him wanted to find Sasuke. The words his friend had said before about how the council was pressuring him echoed in his head. Without thinking twice, he walked to his right past the living room to ahallway. On his left, one of the hallway walls opened to a lawn where another pond was located, on one side of the pond was a stone bench and stone table. 

It was around here then. The council room. Just as he remembered, taking a sharp turn to the left, he saw a large sliding door. It was currently opened just slightly, enough for Naruto to stop and peek inside. The council members were sitting in a square with Sasuke sitting in the middle of one edge, staring at the wooden table. He was wearing a navy blue _hakama_ , looking all stiff. He leaned closer to hear the discussion, catching a few words. 

It was only when Sasuke raised his head, his eyes flashing red that the council members silenced. Naruto’s breath hitched in his throat, having never witnessed that. Those dark eyes had always stayed black. He had heard that demon-spirit creature born could have physical changes should they will the spirit’s powers. He just never seen Sasuke’s eyes turn blood red like that before. No doubt because of his spirit-creature. 

“Do not speak to me about my duty,” Sasuke said, his voice low, dark. “I have made up my mind that I will not marry anyone you have tossed at my face. It will be the one whom I named.”

“You are the next heir,” one of the older men spoke. “While your parents are away, shouldn’t you be thinking about this more? The person you named—he is a _fox-spirit-creature_ born. He is not fit for our clan!”

Sasuke’s lips thinned. 

“Stop being stubborn,” another man said. “You are about to hit 30 in four years. You will need to be married then. To someone worthy of your title. It is only tradition we ask you to fulfil.”

Sasuke opened his mouth only for another council member to agree, stopping him. All of a sudden, his silence had meant others could speak however they wanted. And the more Sasuke couldn’t get a word out, the more helpless he looked. Naruto’s heart ached in his chest and he took a small step back. 

He had made up his mind. 

And what was a better way than to let Sasuke know now?

Pressing a hand on the door, he slammed it open, catching everyone’s eyes on him before silence washed into the scene. Sasuke’s eyes that were still a little red met his. There was surprise on his face before it mellowed down into the monotonous mask Naruto was starting to hate. 

“Who—” 

Before one of the council could speak, Naruto blurted out, “He already said he has someone he wants to marry.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened at that, the mask cracked. 

Silence once more greeted him before he forced himself to stand straighter, curling his fingers to his side. Meeting those dark eyes silently asking him what the hell he was doing, he smiled at his best friend and said, “I’m the one marrying him.”

Chaos erupted the very next second but he couldn’t find it in himself to care, not when he saw the relief on Sasuke’s face—and that small smile of happiness. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. 
> 
> A/N: Here's the next chapter! I think this story would mostly be a feel-good story and the angst might be just minimal. Maybe. I'm having fun writing this so far! And I hope you all are having fun reading it! Do drop a kudos if you enjoyed it and a comment to let me know what you guys thought so far! Thank you so much for the support so far! <3 Until the next chapter!

Naruto breathed out, his feet slightly tripping on nothing as he followed his best friend down the hallway to his room. Located in the deepest parts of the house, far away from the living room and the council room, his eyes flitted briefly at the beautiful tree planted at another patch of lawn he could see when one wall of the hallway stopped, opening to more green. A soft smile crossed his lips at the image, forcing his feet to follow Sasuke until they reached his room. Pushing open the sliding door, the taller man walked inside as he ran his fingers through his hair. When Naruto had closed it behind him, turning to look at his best friend, he stopped in his tracks at the dark eyes meeting his blue ones. 

The silence that washed over them had him fidgeting where he stood. The familiar nervousness that had been bugging him since he got out of his apartment made itself known. The chaos in the council room had been handled as quickly as possible, with Naruto having been kicked out of the room by Sasuke after he declared he would marry him. A few minutes later, the taller man walked out and urged him to follow him. 

Scratching the back of his neck, he gave his best friend a weak smile. 

Sasuke searched his face before he said, “Are you sure?”

It was one question but it carried a huge meaning. A clear sign that Naruto still had room to walk away if he wanted to. Dropping his hands to his sides, he took in a deep breath. The look of relief on his parents’ face and the image of Sasuke’s head bowed as he was taken apart word by word by the council; those were enough for him to confirm that he had made up his mind. And besides…he wouldn’t have to waste his time meeting anyone new now that he had his best friend next to him. 

“I’m sure.” Naruto grinned as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, watching the emotions flicker in those dark eyes before they settled on a certain look that had his heart squeezing in his chest. 

A certain look he had yet to decipher. 

“Okay.” Sasuke sighed as he looked at a low table on the tatami floors. There was a small kettle and a few black cups arranged neatly to one side. He pointed at it. “You want any?”

Naruto blinked, shaking his head. The taller man gave him a stiff nod before he moved to his cupboard, opening it to look through his clothes before he grabbed a yukata. Naruto was used to seeing him wear the navy blue clothing whenever he came around. What he didn’t expect was for Sasuke to start stripping right in front of him. 

Maybe it was because the reality was slightly different now but when he caught a glimpse of pale skin of his back, he quickly snapped his gaze at the low table. 

“You know what, I think I’ll take that,” Naruto said, his voice coming out embarrassed as he went to sit at the low table. 

Focusing his energy on pouring tea into a black cup, he drank it. The sound of clothes rustling had him flushing, his eyes firmly planted on the table. When Sasuke came to sit in front of him, looking far more relaxed than before, his heart almost gave out at the small smile on his best friend’s face. He didn’t understand what this weird feeling that had crawled and settled in his chest was but he didn’t examine it closely. Pouring Sasuke a cup, he took in a deep breath to calm himself. Calm his heart. 

“So,” Naruto said once he was sure he had a grip on himself. “What now?”

“We wait for my parents,” Sasuke said, placing his cup on the table. Those dark eyes bored into his blue ones again, once more forcing him to realise that he felt far more self-conscious under his gaze. There was a question in those eyes that Naruto steeled himself for. “You took a while to come around.”

Slight irritation sparked in his chest at that before he forced himself to reconsider the tone Sasuke had used. It wasn’t the usual teasing voice neither was it anger or resentment. It was merely curiosity. He nodded, slowly, dropping his gaze to his cup. Staring into the abyss of nothing in his hands, he sighed. 

“I had a lot to consider,” Naruto said. “All seemed irrelevant once I thought about how much time I’ll have in my hands without having to worry about love, though.”

Sasuke snorted under his breath. “Of course.” 

Furrowing his eyebrows, he lifted his gaze to look at the pale face. “Your council’s full of idiots. A bunch of old farts.”

“They are,” Sasuke said, not even bothering to hide the amusement on his face. “Which is why it’s satisfying to watch them panic when you came in.”

His shoulders relaxed at the familiar banter building between them. Grinning, he said, “Hey, grand entrance makes the best impression.”

“No one ever says that, idiot,” Sasuke said, immediately shooting him down like he usually did. 

“Well, I do!” He pointed a finger at his best friend. “I’m going to be your husband, man. Can’t you be any less rude?”

Sasuke stared at him for a few seconds before he caught his finger. Naruto startled when his best friend pulled him forward with so much force that he thought he was going to slam his head against Sasuke’s. Placing a hand on the table to stop himself from doing that, his breath caught in his throat when their faces were close. This close, Sasuke’s eyes were far less dark. If he really _looked_ …he could almost see speckles of red in them. 

Why hadn’t he seen that before?

“You’re going to be my husband,” Sasuke said, his voice was light. “It gives me even more reason to be ruder to you.” He let his hand go before flicking his forehead, leaning back. 

The sharp pain startled him away from his thoughts. Immediately scrambling back to sit down, he rubbed his forehead and tossed a glare at his best friend. He ignored his loudly beating heart and hot face. And he ignored the way Sasuke’s face softened, a smile that he had never seen before crawling on those pink lips. 

“That makes no sense, bastard,” Naruto whispered, turning to glare at the cup. “If you’re going to treat me this way, maybe I should just take my decision back.”

His words were meant as jest but for some reason, the words tasted weird as they left his mouth. Confused at that, he tossed that to the back of his mind, preferring to analyse it when he was not in front of Sasuke. 

“If you want me to treat you gently, you could’ve just said so.” Sasuke smirked when Naruto spluttered, his face darkening even more from the blush. “I’ll be sure to treat you like a princess.”

“Fucking shut up, asshole!” Naruto slammed his hands on the table. “I’m not some delicate flower.”

“No?” Sasuke placed an arm on the table, his face cradled by his palm. “Maybe you should prove to me you’re not.”

“What?” Naruto scrunched his nose. 

“On our wedding night.”

His brain screeched to a halt. The slight irritation had washed away, to be replaced with panic. He searched Sasuke’s face, wondering if he was joking. When the mask remained as it is and he couldn’t find any cracks for him to grasp onto, he _felt_ himself pale. He supposed that must’ve shown on his face because Sasuke reached to grab his left hand, squeezing his fingers. That mere touch had sent a flow of assurance, forcing his shoulders to relax. 

“I’m joking,” Sasuke said, his eyebrows furrowed. “We don’t need to do anything like that.”

His lungs finally accepted air as he bent his body to thump his forehead against the table. A few tendrils of guilt settled in his chest at his reaction. Perching his chin on the surface, he eyed Sasuke. He didn’t mean to make it sound like he found sleeping with Sasuke was bad—he just hadn’t prepared himself for that. He didn’t think that mattered. As far as he was concerned, they were doing each other a favour. 

Sasuke gave his hand a squeeze, his eyes full of assurance. Naruto’s guilt vanished at that and he smiled, sitting up. 

“There’s a few things we need to discuss,” Sasuke said, taking his touch away. 

Naruto flexed his fingers, his chest tightened at the loss of warmth. Bringing his arm to his lap, he searched Sasuke’s face, nodding. “What is it?”

“About what’s expected of you and me in this marriage,” Sasuke said, frowning. “We can just act as how we do behind closed doors or anywhere away from prying eyes. But outside…”

Naruto knew what he was saying. He had suspected as much when he agreed to this. “Pretend we’re in love?”

Sasuke thinned his lips, a certain look crossed his face and vanished just as quickly before he could think about it. Though, he…suspected if he thought about it, he would know what the look meant. Not allowing the curiosity to cross his face, he tilted his head to the side a little to mimic innocence. Sasuke narrowed his eyes before he nodded. 

“That.” Sasuke sat straighter. “During this marriage, if you found someone you love, you can—”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Naruto shook his head. “I’m not planning on looking for anyone or entertaining anyone besides the one I married. Sasuke, I’m not a cheater.” He frowned. 

His heart squeezed at the thought of Sasuke finding someone else outside of marriage. He didn’t like that idea. But he didn’t want to impose that on him. 

Somehow, as always, Sasuke picked up on his subtle mood shift and said, “I’m not a cheater either. I’m marrying someone who already knows me well.”

Naruto’s lips twitched into a smile. “Yeah, so no cheating, bastard.”

“Already sounding like a nagging spouse,” Sasuke said, his voice light as his eyes lost some sense of seriousness. 

The blond-haired man couldn’t help but to smile wider at that. While it was surreal that that was what was going to be the title he harboured, he couldn’t find it in himself to grudge that when Sasuke looked relieved. Happier. 

When his best friend’s eyes darkened a tad as he took in his face, he looked away. The back of his neck heated up. 

“I won’t cheat either,” Naruto said, quietly. “What’s next?”

“Sex.” Sasuke’s callous behaviour of the topic burned his ears. He snapped his head at his friend, eyes widening. His best friend obviously was having too much fun at the panic crossing his face because he smirked. “We don’t need to do any of that.” After a beat he added, “Unless you want to.”

Naruto took in a sharp breath at the shrug he got. “Do you _want_ to?”

Sasuke didn’t answer that, simply saying, “We don’t need to do it unless you’re okay with it. We can just act how we usually are behind closed doors. The council has no business in our marriage after this.”

He was still stuck at the question if his best friend wouldn’t mind sleeping with him. He was curious of the answer, especially when Sasuke had sidestepped that. But he didn’t know if he was ready to hear the answer, so he kept the curiosity to himself. Drumming his fingers on the table, he nodded. At least the council wouldn’t pull a cliche move on them to be adamant that they speak if they had consummated their marriage. 

At that thought, it struck him just how real this was going to get. How different their friendship was going to get. And at the relaxed look on his best friend’s face, he doubted he minded. 

Sakura’s words on how she viewed them crossed his mind. Licking his lips, he said, “Do you remember Sakura?”

Sasuke’s shoulders tensed at the mention of her name. “It’s that pink-haired woman.”

It wasn’t a question, merely a fact that earned Naruto’s nod as confirmation. “I went to have dinner with her last week. I told her about…the offer of marriage and she said the weirdest thing.”

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, his face a monotonous mask. “What did she say?”

Naruto gave him a huff of laughter. “She said she thought we were already dating. And that you look at me like I’m your everything.”

Sasuke stared at his face, his lips thinned. He took in every muscle twitch on his face, cataloguing it. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for but he didn’t think this was the reaction he was expecting. Instead, Sasuke scoffed and stood up. 

“Woman’s delusional,” Sasuke said, his voice quiet as he moved to leave his room. “I’m going to grab something to eat from the kitchen. Do you want anything?”

Naruto shook his head. When he usually would’ve followed his best friend out, he didn’t think he wanted to at the moment. Once the door closed behind the retreating back of his friend, Naruto released a breath. Touching his chest, he stood up, moving to Sasuke’s bed. Without any ceremony, he dumped himself on it, sighing as the comfortable mattress tried to sink him into it. 

Sasuke was an epitome of elegance and expensive taste. Even his mattress felt luxurious.

A few ticking seconds of silence washed over him.

He wasn’t imagining the look on his best friend’s face, was he?

That look of slight panic followed by a look he couldn’t understand what it meant. The same look he had seen Sasuke wearing whenever he looked at him, when he thought Naruto wasn’t aware. His heart continued to beat loudly. Staring at the ceiling, the smell of incense the room always carried, the smell that was so Sasuke, caused him to relax further into the mattress. 

With Sasuke, he had felt safe. Always. 

He wondered if that feeling would increase tenfold once he had tied to knot with him.

***

Naruto hadn’t expected Sasuke’s parents to arrive so quickly. When he got a call from his best friend while he was in one of his lab sessions that he had to meet up his parents tonight, he had sat so straight that he thought his back was about to snap in half. He rarely met with Sasuke’s parents. Fugaku scared him and he preferred to hide out in Sasuke’s room. 

But with clammy hands and tremors of nervousness, he realised he couldn't hide now. 

As he waited for Sasuke to come pick him up, he looked at himself in front of his dresser mirror. He had tied and untied his tie for the umpteenth time. The suit he was wearing to look presentable was stuffy on him. He preferred just an orange hoodie and a pair of loose pants but he was sure that wouldn’t go well over people like Sasuke’s parents. Sighing, he let the two ends of his tie to hang uselessly on his chest. At the end, he took off his tie and tossed it on his bed, unbuttoning two buttons from his collar to show off a bit more of his tan skin. 

Tugging at his jackets, he thought he looked better like this. Now, his hair. His unruly hair. 

He stared at the jar of hair gel sitting innocently on his dresser. Grabbing it, he opened the cap and took out a scoop of the vicious stuff. With his clean hand, he brushed his hair to part heavily to one side. When a few of his fringes drooped around his eyes, he gelled his hair up. On the third swipe, he realised that something about the hairstyle was off. Maybe it was because he had flattened the two halves of his hair too much. Annoyed, he was about to curse when his apartment door was knocked. Glancing at the bedside clock, he frowned when he realised he still had an hour before Sasuke arrived. At the next series of impatient knocks, he rolled his eyes and went to the front door. 

Yanking it open, his breath hitched in his throat when he saw Sasuke. Wearing a navy blue suit with a tie on, his hair styled messily and perfectly to compliment his face shape, Naruto was struck at how handsome he looked. Taking a step back, he allowed his best friend to walk inside as he went back to mess with his hair. 

“You’re early,” Naruto said as he walked to his bedroom and head straight to his dresser. Staring at his reflection, he frowned as he reached for his hair. 

In a Sasuke fashion, he didn’t reply to that. Instead, he said, “Your hair’s a mess.”

Frowning deeper, he glared at his friend from his reflection, dropping his hands to his sides. Slight frustration bubbled within him. It wasn’t as if he wanted to look like this. He just didn’t understand how to tame his hair. Sasuke moved to stand behind him before he touched his shoulder, gesturing for him to turn around. Facing his best friend, he raised his eyebrows as the dark eyes bored into his. 

His heart once more skipped a beat, eliciting this weird wash of feelings as pale hands reached for his hair. Stiffening at the touch, he remained quiet, eyes kept on his face; those hands brushed against his hair. One strand after another, Sasuke focused on the task. The look of concentration on his face had him wanting to smile. The warmth in his touch, the softness in his movements—his heart trembled at them. 

Glancing away, he forced his hands to remain at his sides. At this close with Sasuke, the smell of cologne and a mix of incense that recalled him of his room caressed his senses. When Sasuke finally took a step back, it was only then he could breathe. Sucking in a deep breath, he turned to look at his reflection. He hummed, a little amazed at how Sasuke managed to style his hair. From the flat mess, it was supporting a similar, messy hair like his best friend. Only he had shorter hairs from previous bangs drooping near his left eye. 

He liked it. 

“You should’ve gone into hairdressing,” Naruto joked, grinning when the dark eyes rolled. “You didn’t answer me. You came by early.”

“It isn’t a question,” Sasuke said, his voice dry. “I didn’t have anything else to do and I didn’t feel like waiting in the car.”

Naruto snorted under his breath before he turned around. Leaning against the dresser, he crossed his arms against his chest. “You could’ve just waited for me at home, you know. It’s not like we’re heading anywhere else.” 

Sasuke huffed a breath. “It looks better if I drove you back.”

Unable to contain his amusement at that, almost teasingly he said, “Did you miss me too much that you couldn’t wait to see me?”

“Who would miss an idiot like you?” Sasuke’s retort was quick and Naruto grinned wider at that. 

“Bastard,” he said, slight affection slipping in his tone. “Fine, it’s good you’re here. Hit me with what’s about to happen so I can prepare myself.”

Sasuke opened his mouth and Naruto _knew_ he was going to get mocked. “Wow…preparing for something. You must’ve grown up at last.” And there it was.

Scowling, he stood straighter. “Oi, don’t be an asshole. I’m meeting your parents. You want to marry me, don’t you?”

Sasuke’s mask broke a little; a hint of shyness crawling onto his face. It was amusing to watch. And it had him feeling a little—high at that. At the fact he could render Sasuke feeling that way. 

“Just keep the stupid jokes to yourself and we’ll be fine,” Sasuke said, shoving his hands in his pant pockets. After a beat, he added softly, “Just be yourself.”

Naruto would’ve joked if not for the fact he was nervous. He was nervous about what he was going to head into and that assurance was calming. He didn’t realise he needed to hear that until the words were said. Giving Sasuke a thankful smile, he pushed himself away from the dresser to his drawers. Grabbing a pair of grey socks, he walked to the living room. 

“Your parents,” Naruto said as he sat down on his couch, glancing at his friend before averting his attention to wearing his socks. “Do they know…?”

“They know,” Sasuke said as he moved to sit down next to him, leaning into the cushions. “I’ve already told them before I asked you.”

He stopped wearing his socks then. Frowning, he straightened his back, turning his body to face his best friend. “Did you ask everyone before you asked me?”

Sasuke’s lips twitched upwards. He leaned forward a little, lessening the distance between their bodies. Naruto’s heart lurched in his chest and automatically, he moved back a tad so his eyes wouldn’t cross at how close their faces were. No doubt his cheeks were red judging by how hot it was, he cleared his throat, forcing to meet the dark eyes as he waited on an answer. 

“Were you that desperate for me to ask you to marry me?” Sasuke said, his smirk became more pronounced on his face when Naruto’s eyes widened. 

He placed a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and pushed him away from him, giving him a breathless laugh. “Bastard,” he said, his voice cracking a little. His nerves were frayed. “How did your parents take it when you announced that?” He grinned, faking calmness. “I bet they went speechless.”

Sasuke hummed, leaning back. “They were. And then they protested. Father did, at least.”

“Does Itachi know?” Naruto blinked when Sasuke nodded. 

“He was the one who suggested I should marry you.” 

His thoughts screeched to a halt at that. “What?”

Sasuke shrugged. “He had a point. Why waste time finding someone new when I already have someone who knows me well?”

“Well,” Naruto said, a little loss for words. “Is he going to be there? I haven’t seen him in…” He scrunched his nose. “Years.”

“No,” Sasuke said. “He’s not needed for this discussion.”

Naruto hummed. He didn’t understand how the Uchihas operated sometimes. He leaned into the couch once he had worn his socks, resisting the urge to place his legs on his coffee table. Interlacing his fingers and placing them on his stomach, he stared at his switched off television, silence being broken once in a while by the ticking wall clock.

“If we get approved,” Sasuke said, catching his attention. “We’ll need to get married a month later.”

Naruto tensed. “That’s too quick!”

“It’s tradition,” Sasuke said, not bothering to hide the distaste for the word. “The longer we wait, the more reasons the council will create to stop us from getting married anyway.”

“Man, I imagined my wedding and marriage thing to be wildly different,” Naruto said, unable to hold back a wistful sigh. 

“How did you imagine it?” Sasuke asked, his eyebrows furrowed when he glanced at the taller man. 

“I don’t know,” Naruto said. “Slower? Less for connivence and more for love.”

Sasuke remained quiet. When a strong hand touched his knee, he jolted from the contact. Looking at the hand, he almost wanted to touch the pale skin. Instead, he met the dark eyes. Immediately, he read the words on his friend’s face. _I’m sorry._

He shook his head, grinning. “Hey, at least I’m marrying my best friend. Not many people can say that.”

Sasuke squeezed his knee, his touch lingering before he pulled his hand away. The familiar pang of loneliness echoed in his chest, the loss of warmth had him frowning just a tad. Shifting in his seat, he was struck at how full his apartment felt with Sasuke next to him. 

“I’ll treat you to ramen,” Sasuke said. “For dinner.”

Naruto perked up at that before he warily eyed at his friend. “Are you going to spring up something on me again?”

He winced when Sasuke slapped the back of his head, standing up. “Come on, we should get going.”

Naruto laughed, relaxing a little as he got up, following his best friend into a whole new world. One that he believed Sasuke would guide him through.

***

Naruto had been to his house many times before. Heck, he had been there just two days ago to barge into the council and declare his intentions like the firecracker he was. But when the evening had shed its day coat to replace it with the night, with lights twinkling at the pathway and wind blowing at his face as he got out of Sasuke’s car, it was less easy to convince himself it was another visit to his friend’s place. He was glad that Sasuke had been adamant on picking him up. With his nerves frayed since he began getting ready, he forced the nervousness bubbling inside to quieten down. Sasuke stood next to him, the car behind them beeping before the silence of their surrounding engulfed them. Staring at the big gates with the Uchiha crest on it, reality sunk into him that he was about to do this. 

A hand touched his arm. “Come on,” Sasuke said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Naruto nodded. He wouldn’t admit it but his legs were like jelly. He was sure that if he allowed himself, he would’ve melted to the ground. The hand on his arm remained, acting like a grounding touch that he was grateful for. As they walked past the gates and to the main entrance, he had managed to give himself a pep talk. He was going to be fine as long as Sasuke was next to him. 

Pushing open the door, they stood straighter when Fugaku and Mikoto stood in front of them. Wearing a black and red designed yukata, both of them were akin to a masterpiece. Pale skin, dark hair and on Mikoto, a hint of redness on her lips and cheeks; both of them besides looking beautiful were also radiating a certain power. A power that had him wanting to cower. 

But not one to be defeated by pressure, he gave them both a smile. 

They were the same parents that he had met when they were kids. 

This was nothing. 

“Come in, my dear,” Mikoto said, her voice still as graceful as it had been. “Let’s head to the living room.”

Sasuke nodded, his hand leaving Naruto’s arm. Shooting an assuring glance, the taller man walked ahead first. Naruto hesitated only for a second before he followed him closely. It was only when he was settled next to his best friend, tea being served on the coffee table and his friend’s parents sitting opposite of them that the atmosphere in the air finally shifted into seriousness. 

Fugaku broke the silence with, “So, it’s true then? You both want to marry.”

Naruto knew the question was aimed at Sasuke so he kept his mouth shut, only nodding when Mikoto tossed a questioning gaze at him. At the affirmation, her lips twitched upwards. That was a good sign, right?

“Yes,” Sasuke said, his voice strong. “Yes, it’s true.”

“I didn’t even know you two were together,” Mikoto said. “When Sasuke brought up the intention to marry you, Naruto, we were sure you would reject him. We thought it was just…”

“A joke,” Fugaku said, finishing the sentence for her. 

Naruto almost snorted under his breath at that. He himself had thought it was a joke as well. “It isn’t a joke,” Naruto said, keeping his voice steady. 

“Then…how long have you two been together?” Mikoto asked. “For me to not even notice…”

“We aren’t,” Sasuke said. Naruto’s eyes widened at the honesty in his voice. He grabbed Sasuke’s arm, furrowing his eyebrows. What was he doing? “We aren’t together.”

“What?” Fugaku looked baffled with a heavy frown on his face. “What is the meaning of wanting to marry then?”

“Father,” Sasuke said as he took in a deep breath. He reached to touch the hand on his arm, bringing Naruto closer to him. With their thighs almost touching, he caressed the tan fingers, eliciting a quiet gasp from him. “The only person who’s been with me from the very start, who has understood me without judging me…who has taught me many things to feel…it’s only Naruto. And that’s why—I can’t imagine living the rest of my life with anyone but him.”

Naruto’s almost stopped breathing. It was as if Sasuke was…confessing. He thinned his lips, his face burning. He took in how Sasuke’s parents looked. There was the infamous monotonous masks on their faces; unable for him to decipher what they were thinking about. When both pair of dark eyes landed on him, however, he sat straighter. 

“And what about you, dear?” Mikoto asked.

“I,” Naruto said, his words stuck in his throat. He looked down at the hand that Sasuke was touching, the contrast between their skin colours and how—it seemed like regardless the difference between them, they fit. He took in a deep breath. “I can’t imagine my life without him either. He’s always been a constant in my life. It never crossed my mind that I won’t be spending my life with him.” And a little more honestly, he added, “It never crossed my mind that I would have to share him with another.”

Fugaku sighed, glancing at his wife. “The council has some concerns.”

“Let’s hear them,” Sasuke said, shifting closer to Naruto. 

The blond-haired man relaxed a little. There wasn’t any rejection so far and for all its worth with his heart racing against his chest, he could almost believe they were about to cave in. 

“Well,” Mikoto said, looking far more serious than he had ever seen her be. “Forgive me, Naruto, but we are a clan who harbour the demon spirit-creature. The purity we try to maintain here is one of the major reasons there’s a backlash to the decision of this marriage.” She sighed. “I am not one for clan purity…but the clan has traditions we must follow.”

Naruto bit his inner cheek from telling her what he thought about the traditions. He had always hated them. Ever since he was a kid. Sasuke had been exhausted, sometimes moody on most days every time the council decided he had to attend another clan-approved class. To cultivate his spirit and to ensure he was the great heir to the clan. Itachi was a lucky bastard to have escaped that when he came out saying he would marry the daughter of another clan, preferring her over them. 

At least he had married into an equal-powered clan. Naruto wasn’t. 

“Maybe it’s time we thought thrice about the traditions,” Sasuke said, earning a glare from his father. When it was clear it was a warning for the taller man to thread carefully, he said, “The purity will remain as it is, Father. It’s not like we can create an heir.”

Naruto almost choked on that. Right. The issue of an heir. Suddenly, he realised just how big of a mess he was getting into. Doubts festered in his mind. The last thing he wanted was for Sasuke to be stuck for marrying him. 

“The heir is another issue,” Fugaku said. “It is simply our pride as a clan to uphold our purity. Naruto is a fox spirit-creature born. While we might approve, the council clan will never approve of this. People in this clan look up to us. If there is animosity within our own council, how would we be expected to keep peace among the rest of our people?”

Sasuke sighed, sufferingly. “I’ll talk to them. If you give me your approval, I’ll solve this matter with the council.” 

“I’ll…” Naruto said, catching their attention. “I’ll do my best to uphold the traditions and pride of this clan. I’ll do my best. Even if I don’t harbour the most powerful spirit-creature, I can still learn to be part of this clan.” He tightened his grip on Sasuke’s hand. “I won’t embarrass Sasuke, if that’s what you’re worrying.”

“Naruto, dear, of course not,” Mikoto said, smiling at him. 

“But that is a fear, yes,” Fugaku said, not sugarcoating it. “Bringing someone who has no idea about our traditions as a clan into our family would be detrimental if that person doesn't understand how important the traditions are. I allowed this friendship to happen because I believed you were a good influence on Sasuke.” After a beat he said, “I still do believe you are a good influence.” 

Naruto tried to decipher what he meant. There was slight warmth on Fugaku’s face and he grew hopeful that maybe they were getting close to the approval. Mikoto touched her husband’s leg, giving him a nod. 

“As for the heir,” Sasuke said. “We can always adopt. Or name another to take over the role later on. That won’t be a problem for years.”

Fugaku frowned. “That would also be going against tradition. Bloodlines are the only eligible—”

“I’ll convince the council otherwise,” Sasuke said. “All I need is your approval on our intent to marry.”

Mikoto remained silent for a few seconds. She glanced at her husband one more time before she said, “I approve.”

Fugaku rubbed a hand over his chin before he crossed his arms against his chest, assessing Naruto. “I approve only if the council approves.”

It was as good as they were going to get. Fugaku was still sporting a frown but Mikoto was smiling. Sasuke himself had relaxed from next to him. Naruto took in how they looked before allowing himself some room to breathe in relief. They had to convince the council but he trusted Sasuke to know what he was doing. 

By the time they left Sasuke’s house with a polite rejection to dinner, Naruto was a shaking mess. He sighed loudly as he leaned against the passenger seat, buckling himself up. Sasuke drummed his fingers on his steering wheel, staring straight ahead. 

“Oi,” Naruto said, getting a hum as a reply. “How the hell are we going to convince the council?”

“I’ll find a way,” Sasuke said, dismissing that. He turned his attention to the blond-haired man. “When you said you wouldn’t embarrass me…”

“I meant it,” Naruto said, scratching his right cheek. “I don’t get it. I don’t like it, the traditions. But if I see a challenge, you know I’ll take it.”

Sasuke thinned his lips. “You don’t have to learn anything about us. You’re already enough.”

His chest warmed at that. He smiled, patting Sasuke’s shoulder. “I know. But if that’s how we can win over your council, I’ll do it.” He patted his own chest. “Don’t say Uzumaki Naruto doesn’t stand up to a challenge!”

Sasuke snorted under his breath, a brief smile crossed his lips. “They won’t make it easy for you.”

“Who cares?” Naruto smiled. “I won’t let hardship stop me from marrying you.”

The smile on the pale face transformed into smirk. “Now who’s eager to marry me?”

The blond-haired man rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out before he chuckled, relaxing under the calm air between them. “When are we going to meet with the council?”

Sasuke shook his head. “ _I’ll_ go talk to them first. Alone.”

Naruto raised his eyebrows. “After I just told you I’d try my best? Yeah, not happening. When are you meeting with them?”

“Naruto—”

“Stop trying to do shit all by yourself,” Naruto said, shutting him down as he narrowed his eyes. His heart squeezed in his chest at the argument crossing Sasuke’s face. Crossing his arms against his chest, he huffed a breath. “Just trust me. Bring me to the meeting.”

“I do trust you,” Sasuke said, frowning. When Naruto stared at him, his friend sighed, nodding. “Fine…whatever. This Friday.”

Beaming at the victory, he settled back into his seat. Glancing at the taller man, his lips curled upwards at the stoic look on that face. He wasn’t about to take back his words, though. He would’ve backed away if it had been any other day. But he had always made a promise to himself looking at the marriage between his parents that he wanted to be as involved with his partner as much as possible like how his parents were with each other. 

While he hadn’t anticipated it was Sasuke he would be marrying and there were strange feelings he had to work out, he hadn’t doubted for one-second that he would be trying his best in whatever this was between them. 

And he knew he could count on Sasuke to do the same for him. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
> 
> A/N: I am back with another chapter! This has been really fun to write so far, mainly because it's just so fluffy! Can't promise it'll always be fluffy but for now, it shall be! I hope you guys are enjoying how it goes so far! Again, did some research on the best traditional clothing to wear; but it's always possible I might be wrong. So, do correct me if I was and forgive me for the inaccuracies! As always, thank you so much for all the comments, kudos and bookmarks as well as subscription! Until next chapter!

While Naruto would like to pride himself for his courage, he would be lying if he wasn’t nervous meeting the council. The first time he had seen them, he had barged inside like a delinquent proposing his intentions on marrying his best friend. Though, on a second thought, he wouldn’t really change the way he declared his decision. It was hilarious to see the look of shocked faces. He sighed as he looked at what he was wearing. Sasuke had been adamant that if he were to see them, he could just be himself. 

But his idea of himself would be a hoodie and a pair of torn jeans. He didn’t think that would go over so well with those old farts. Scratching the back of his neck, he stared at his dark _haori hakama_ made from _tsumugi_. He only ever had this. And unlike Sasuke’s, he didn’t have his family crest on it. This would do. He didn’t have fancy clothes like Sasuke did nor did he want to spend money on it yet.

Taking in a deep breath, he decided to wear this. It had been a long time since he worn it. He couldn’t remember when was the last time but it was time he wore this again. Glancing at the wall clock, he took in the time. He had at least four hours before he would have to see Sasuke. 

By the time he had relaxed himself enough to take a shower and wore the clothing, combing his hair properly, his front door was knocked. Huffing a breath, he moved to open it, coming face to face with Sasuke. Dark eyes met his before his gaze slid down to what he was wearing. Resisting the urge to shift his weight from one foot to the other, he raised his eyebrows and allowed his friend to walk in. Sasuke walked a few steps inside before he paused and turned to look at him. It was a little awkward with Naruto standing in front of him as he waited for the man to speak. 

Even awkwarder when he was the only one wearing a traditional clothing and Sasuke was wearing a black pair of jeans and a blue shirt. Sasuke pointedly gazed at his _haori hakama_ before he met the blue eyes, a question clearly in those eyes. Face heating up from the embarrassment, he smoothed the cloth. 

“What?” Naruto snapped, at last. “You don’t have to look like I grew two heads, man.”

Sasuke blinked before his eyes narrowed. “Didn’t I tell you that you don’t have to look like…that?”

“Why don’t you say it with a more disapproving tone,” Naruto said, crossing his arms against his chest. Maybe it was a mistake to wear this after all. “I’ll go change.”

Sasuke grabbed his arm just as he walked past him. The touch had him pausing in his steps. Turning his attention to his friend, he took in the weirdly blank face of the man, the dark eyes once again burning a hole on his clothing. Snatching his arm from the tightening grip, he flinched when Sasuke met his eyes again. Silence washed in for a second before the taller man took a small step back. 

“It’s fine,” Sasuke said, voice quiet. “Come on, we’ll be late.”

Naruto’s throat dried. The look—the look that conveyed a certain emotion that he only ever seen a few times, increasingly frequent these past few days flashed on his friend’s face. It was a brief moment, but he had seen it. He wasn’t imagining it. A nagging thought crawled and settled in his mind, forcing him to examine Sasuke closer. The subtly tense shoulders and the clenched jaw—Sasuke was visibly wound up. And he could only touch his clothing to connect the dots. 

_Was it because he wore this?_

But just as that thought crossed his mind, he tossed it aside. Nodding, the fire within him had been extinguished with just that look from his friend. Swallowing a small breath in, he walked past the taller man, this time heading to the front door. When they exited his apartment and have silently walked to Sasuke’s car, Naruto was almost bursting with a thousand of questions about the council and what he would need to expect. But from a glance at his best friend, who seemed to have permanently sported a furrow in between his eyebrows, he swallowed down all the enquiries. 

He had always taken everything one day at a time, one problem at a time. 

He would just have to do that for the council as well. 

Placing both hands on his lap, the seatbelt against his chest as a constant reminder that he was on his way to the clan house, he took in a deep breath in. 

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Sasuke finally broke it with, “Walk away from the council if things goes south.”

Naruto was startled out of his reverie at the warning. Tilting his head to one side, he said, “South?”

His best friend gave him a single nod. “Generations of prestige and privilege have cultivated a horribly cruel mind.” He tossed a look at Naruto. “They will be cruel.”

He truly had no idea just how cruel they could be. He knew that. But from the glimpse of the things he had seen, he could guess. Licking his lips, he leaned against his seat. 

Walking away when the council became mean though didn’t sound right. It wasn’t in his nature to back down just because someone objected to him. The dormant rebellious streak that hadn’t surfaced since he had hit twenty hummed underneath his skin. He didn’t reply to Sasuke. The man surely would try to stop him if he knew. He wasn’t going to walk out of the council with his tail tucked between his legs. 

He harboured the fox spirit-creature. And foxes were known to be cunning and mischievous. His mother had always thought he had been remarkably too similar to his spirit-creature. Naruto held back a smug smirk. The council wouldn’t break him down. 

Sasuke eyed him, his gaze sharp at the side of his face whenever he could afford to look at him. “Naruto,” he said. “You look like a mad man with that look.”

Naruto’s smile that had crawled on his face without his permission died. Rolling his eyes, he sat straighter to look at his best friend. “Your council doesn’t scare me.”

The pale-skinned man sighed, sufferingly. “You’re just saying that because you don’t know what you’re about to face.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Naruto said, catching a questioning look from his friend. “You’ll be next to me, won’t you?” Sasuke gave him a deadpanned look that screamed affirmation. As if Naruto was stupid to have asked that. A smile crawled on his lips. “Then, I’ll be fine.”

Sasuke huffed a breath but the corner of his lips quirked upwards anyway. “Idiot. Don’t try to be a hero. I swear, you have some kind of hero complex.”

The old argument only earned an eye roll from Naruto. “Shut up, bastard. You have a hero complex too, don’t deny it.”

And wisely, his best friend didn’t. They remained silent again. The closer they got to the main house, the more nervous the tan-skinned man became. He didn’t let Sasuke see that part of him, though. He had promised his best friend he would do his best and that was what he would do. Taking in a deep breath for the umpteenth time, he prepared for a battle against generations of old traditions. 

He was about to break those apart.

***

Sasuke had brought him to his room the second they reached the main house. He had raised his eyebrows at that, but when Sasuke simply head straight to his wardrobe, it was clear then what his intentions were. Taking out his formal traditional clothing, a similar one he had donned that day when Naruto barged into the council room, he began stripping right in front of him. Startled, Naruto immediately walked to the low table, sitting on the tatami floors. Grabbing a cup, he was about to grab the kettle, ears burning and face hot at the sound of clothes rustling when Sasuke stood in front of him. 

“No time, come on,” Sasuke said as he grabbed the black cup from his grasp, neatly placing it back to the side of the table. 

Naruto was still a little flustered; half of him was tempted to ask why Sasuke had been so at ease stripping in front of him but the look impatience on his friend’s face stopped him. Nodding, he stood up. Walking out of his room and down the hallway, he unconsciously shifted closer to Sasuke when they reached the council room. Before the door slid open, Sasuke turned to look at him. Searching his face, his heart tightened in his chest when Sasuke gave him a smile. Tapping his shoulder, the pale-skinned man opened the door and walked inside. Naruto followed him closely, already _feeling_ the gazes on his body. 

Sasuke sat in the middle of one side of the square perimeter of tables. A hand grasped his shoulder, gently telling him to take a seat next to him. Naruto did just that, mouth shut as he finally forced himself to look at the council members. The hairs on the back of his neck and arms stood up at the narrowed, disapproved looks they were sporting. They reminded him acutely of rotting tomatoes. 

Stifling a smile from that image, he sat straighter, forcing a radiance of confidence he desperately needed. 

“Shall we start?” Sasuke’s voice gave no room for any objection. A murmur of agreement started the meeting. 

However, that was the extent of the council’s agreement. Before Sasuke could open his mouth, one council had piped up and said, “Why is there a complete stranger in our meeting, Young Master?”

Naruto frowned. Sasuke placed a hand on his knee, almost a reassuring weight to remind him that he wasn’t going to deal with this alone. 

“He is not a complete stranger,” Sasuke said, patiently. “I introduce to you properly Uzumaki Naruto, my future spouse.”

“I object!” one of the other council member spoke before Naruto could bow in response to his introduction. “He is not right for our clan.”

“Your objection is heard but it is not something I can agree on,” Sasuke said. “Father and Mother have given me their approval.”

That silenced the council. For a brief, pleasant moment. One particular council with dark, beady eyes and a frown that looked carved on his wrinkly face shook his head, catching his attention. For some reason, this particular old man sent shivers running down his spine when he saw him gazing at him. For that reason, he pressed his own hand on Sasuke’s that was still on his knee, squeezing his fingers. He didn’t have time to be at awe at how quickly Sasuke’s shoulders tensed at that as if he had sensed something wasn’t right because that was then the creepy man spoke up. 

“Forgive me,” the old man said. “But I must be frank. I was not present on last week’s council. What is your spirit-creature, Uzumaki-san?”

Naruto was a little taken aback that he had been addressed. A little wary of the man’s sharp gaze on him, he steeled his courage and said, “A fox.”

“We cannot have a fox spirit-creature born in our clan!” another council member said, loudest of them bunch. “We’ll be a laughing stock! Especially to the Hyuuga clan!”

“Do not mock my fiancé that way,” Sasuke said, his voice so sharp and tense that it silenced any protest for a good minute. “You may speak your objections but any insult to my fiancé will not be tolerated.”

“I meant no disrespect, Young Master,” the loud council member said. “I merely am expressing the concerns and backlash we’ll receive with bringing in a fox spirit-creature born into our clan. The purity of our clan is our pride.”

“I understand,” Sasuke said. “But if I may be frank, purity is the last thing I care about when it comes to who I’ll be spending the rest of my life with.”

“Young Master!” another council member exclaimed, horrified. “You’re to be the next Head of the Uchiha Clan. How can you be so callous? Now that eldest Uchiha has fulfilled his duty to form an alliance between us and the Hyuuga clan, we need you to be our proper next Head to this clan!”

Naruto thinned his lips. Squeezing Sasuke’s fingers, he said, “I have said this to his parents before so I’ll say it here again. I may not be born having a high-ranking spirit-creature…but I am willing to learn the ways of this clan if I can be married with Sasuke. I’ll learn your traditions and follow the rules bestowed on this clan.”

“Preposterous!” the loud member said. 

“You’ll learn our ways?” the beady-eyed council member spoke, breaking through the disagreements and chaos. His voice was soft, almost, different from the rest of them. Naruto was uncomfortable. “Learn our traditions and become one of the Uchihas?”

“Yes,” Naruto said, his voice faltering at the way the man gazed at him. Almost as if he was seeing right through him. “Yes, I will. I won’t embarrass your Young Master.”

“I see,” the man said. “You are confident you’ll be able to understand generations of teaching? Understand and utilise the skills we have?”

Naruto nodded. “I will.” 

It was a short answer, but it carried his confidence in doing so. Sasuke’s eyes bored at the side of his face but he firmly kept his own gaze at the old man. Staring down at him, he carefully took in the twitch of those shoulders and the slight quirk of those lips. Something wasn’t right with the old man but Naruto kept his mouth shut. Maybe he was overthinking it. 

“And your parents have agreed to this?” the old man said, directing his question to Sasuke. 

“Yes.” Sasuke nodded without hesitation. 

The man sat straighter. “Very well. I approve.”

Immediately, the council members objected vehemently. “That is completely unacceptable! As the oldest member of this council, Shiro-san, shouldn’t you understand the importance of having a pure clan?”

“I do,” Shiro said. “However, there will be no child born naturally from them both. The purity will remain as it is. And Uzumaki-san has shown interest in our clan traditions rather than opposing it. There is no harm from the decision to marry from what I am seeing. Any heir _must_ be a demon spirit-creature born, however. That is non-negotiable.”

“Understood,” Sasuke said. 

Naruto was surprised. He had assumed Shiro would object him since he was the oldest member. 

“Speaking of the heir,” Shiro said. “I’m sure you are aware, Young Master, that the heir must be of this bloodline. I don’t care how the heir is born, but he must be born from this clan. That is the only way the child can be the next Head of the Uchiha Clan. I will not accept any other.”

Sasuke didn’t say anything but his eyes were bleeding red around the edges when Naruto looked at him. He let the statement sink in his head. Did that mean adoption as long as the child was from this clan was allowed? 

But if that was the case, Sasuke wouldn’t be looking like that. Jaw tight, eyes narrowed and his grip on his tan hand so hard that he winced at small stabs of pain emitting from his fingers. Heart drumming against his chest, he kept the question to himself until they were alone, preferring to keep his focus on Shiro. 

“Well, Young Master?” Shiro asked. “Would that be fine?”

Sasuke glanced at Naruto before he looked back at the old man. “Very well.”

“I can’t believe you’re accepting a fox spirit-creature born into this clan,” one of the council members said. “Adamant in learning our traditions does not mean he will be good at it.”

“I’ll try my best,” Naruto said. “I won’t stop until I get it right.”

“Uchihas strive for perfection,” the loudest member said. “We will _not_ tolerate any failure.”

The blond-haired man resisted the urge to tell him exactly what he thought about failure. He was very well aware of that particular rule. Sasuke had quoted that to him a few times when he was close to breaking down from the stress when they were teenagers. He hated it. But for Sasuke, he would do it. 

“Fine,” Naruto said, almost spatting the word out. “I will not fail you.”

“Then, there is nothing left to discuss,” Shiro said, his lips quirking upwards. “As per tradition, the wedding will happen a month from now if majority of the council agrees.”

Sasuke took in a deep breath as the council took vote. And Naruto had a suspicion that due to the fact Shiro agreed, more than half of the council followed suit with his decision. There were still angry looks thrown at him, sneers and disgust curling on their ugly faces as the meeting was adjourned, but Naruto was far too relieved to care. 

When Shiro exited, his eyes immediately met the dark, beady ones. The look in his face had once again sent a cold shiver running down his spine. When the door to the empty room was now closed, Naruto collapsed to rest his head against Sasuke’s shoulder, sighing. 

Sasuke relaxed as well. 

“That was exhausting,” Naruto said. He sat up, sitting cross legged before running his fingers through his hair, messing it up. 

Sasuke stared ahead, leaning on the palms of his hands on the floor. He was staring at the seat where Shiro had been. Imagining the old man had him dreading. Frowning, Naruto nudged his best friend, waiting until the dark eyes met his blue ones. A little red was still bleeding in those irises. 

“What?” Naruto said when his best friend simply made no move to talk, preferring to look at his face. 

“Nothing.” But Sasuke’s tone said otherwise. 

“Right,” Naruto said with a snort. He then pointed at the empty seat Shiro had occupied. “That old man’s creepy.”

“Creepy?” Sasuke sat straighter, turning his body to face him. 

“The way he looks at me makes me wanna hurl,” Naruto said, his voice souring. 

Sasuke frowned, his eyes now have grown redder. The tan man stared at his best friend, taking in the furrow between those dark eyebrows, and those eyes that he had never seen glow in such a shade before. Alarmed, yet somewhat intrigued, his right hand reached to touch his friend’s right cheek, thumb caressing the bottom part of his eye. Sasuke’s shoulders tensed, the eyes widening a fraction bigger and the red turned to black instantly. Naruto raised his eyebrows. 

“I never seen your eyes do that before,” Naruto said, voice uncharacteristically quiet. 

Sasuke circled his wrist, stopping his thumb from caressing his skin. The warmth acted like a shock, forcing him to realise what he had done. Breath hitching in his throat, his face heated up. He snatched his hand away from Sasuke’s grip, looking away to the table in front of them. 

A few seconds of silence passed with Naruto scratching the side of his neck, embarrassed when Sasuke said, “Only when I’m too angry or…something.”

“Oh.” Naruto curiously peeked at his friend, heart racing when Sasuke’s lips quirked into a quick smirk. Relaxing at the familiar, arrogant look, he huffed a breath. “So, Shiro-san.”

Sasuke’s smirk died on his face, replacing it was a scowl. He touched Naruto’s arm, grip tight. “Don’t be in the same room as him alone if you can help it.”

His heart skipped a beat at the calm tone, hidden underneath it was a warning that had him breathless. It wasn’t fear. He didn’t analyse that any further, shoving that thought out of his head. Instead, he furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Yeah, man,” Naruto said. “I don’t want to be in the same room as him either.” He then paused for a second, recalling of a certain sentence Shiro had said that evoked such an emotionless look from his friend. “About the heir…”

Sasuke tensed, his grip on Naruto’s arm loosening. “We don’t need to worry about that now.”

“But,” Naruto said, catching his gaze. “It’ll be a problem in the future if we don’t worry about it now.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. His best friend leaned backwards until his back was on the floor, fingers interlocked and hands placed on his stomach. Sasuke stared at the ceiling, sighing. 

Naruto quietly watched him, resisting the urge to join him down there. Instead, he took in how his friend look. The neatly combed dark hair was now slightly dishevelled, sprawling on the tatami mats. His skin was pale, contrasting the darkness in his eyes and hair, and his posture, relaxed making him look ethereal almost. The expression on his face was contemplative, with that small furrow between his eyebrows ruining his handsomeness. Naruto’s cheeks flared in heat when Sasuke tilted his head to the side a little, his gaze now on him. 

“Shiro-san wants an heir that contains my blood,” he said.

Naruto blinked at that. “But we can’t…you know,” he said, embarrassed as he cleared his throat. 

He kicked any thoughts of making any babies between them both out of the window. He wasn’t ready to think about that yet, more so focused on figuring Sasuke’s true feeling about the marriage instead. About him.

“I know,” Sasuke said, voice soft. 

He didn’t elaborate but Naruto knew what he meant when the words sunk in his brain. Eyes widening, a sharp flare of an acidic emotion flooded his chest. Heart squeezing, he curled his hands into fists. A frown now decorated his tan face. 

“He wants you to sleep with a woman and produce the heir, doesn’t he?” Naruto’s words were sharp, not hiding the dislike in his tone. 

Sasuke sat up and hunched forward, running his fingers through his hair. “That won’t happen.”

Naruto leaned an elbow on the table. He wasn’t sure how to counter that, not when Sasuke was known to be stubborn once he decided on something. It wasn’t doubt he harboured that his friend wouldn’t keep his word. It was the worry that the council would pressure him into it regardless. He had seen the days Sasuke wanted to do nothing but sit silently, listening to him chatter when pressure got too much on him. 

What if that happened again?

Something must’ve shown on his face because Sasuke shuffled closer to him, pressing a hand on his face. The warmth of his skin startled him from his thoughts. Focusing on his friend’s face, he unconsciously leaned into his touch. A small smile crossed Sasuke’s lips then. 

“That won’t happen,” Sasuke said. 

“I know,” Naruto said. And he believed that. Deciding to break the slightly tense atmosphere, he said, “If you do, I’ll break up with you, man.”

The touch on his cheek turned into a pinch. He winced, pulling away from his touch a little, grumbling as he rubbed that sore spot. “Break up with me,” Sasuke said, his lips quirking upwards at that. “So you consider yourself attached now?”

Naruto continued to rub his cheek. “Then what am I if not attached?” 

When Sasuke’s smirk faltered just a tad, his pale skin pinking, Naruto liked it. He liked the way he could make Sasuke wear that look. A little smug, he smiled. 

“A month from now,” Naruto said. “And I’m a married man.”

Sasuke’s face made a complicated expression, one that had Naruto shifting in his seat. Glancing away as his neck heated up, he resisted the urge to scratch his cheek. Married. He looked his bare hands, imaging a ring on them. His lips itched to smile at that. 

“A married man,” Sasuke said before his pale hands reached to grasp his tan ones. Naruto’s breath hitched in his throat as he stared at their completely different skin colours—complementing each other. “Thank you…for doing this with me.”

Naruto didn’t know why he was breathless at the statement. He shook his head, catching the dark gaze. “That’s…that’s what friends are for, aren’t they?”

Sasuke chuckled. “I don’t think friends would readily marry each other, Naruto.”

Naruto gave him a soft smile. “But we’re not normal friends, are we?”

Sasuke squeezed his hands, looking at their hands as his lips stretched into a smile mimicking his. Softly he said, with his thumbs caressing his fingers, “Yeah…”

***

Naruto sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, exiting his lab. Scrolling through Kiba’s messages, he typed a response that he would meet his friend at the campus cafeteria. He had been in the lab working on his lab tests for the past three hours, skipping lunch by accident. He hoped Kiba was going to treat him. 

Smiling at that, he got to the campus cafeteria, composing a message to Sasuke like he usually did every day to ask if the man had eaten lunch. “ _Did you eat lunch?”_

His lips stretched into a grin when he got a response back immediately, the same reply he had gotten every time he asked the question: “ _Yeah. Now go eat, idiot.”_

Pocketing his phone, he made a point to ask Sasuke what he needed to do before the marriage ceremony. Immediately after meeting with the council, a day later, a date had been decided. Naruto didn't object to it. The faster they do it, the quicker he can get this over with. 

What he didn’t expect was a schedule of the things he needed to learn to be part of the clan. He had looked at the piece of paper before looking at his best friend. Sasuke gave him a look that told him he could throw it away if he wanted, and that served more reasons for him to take the classes. The schedule specified classes that would start after the wedding ceremony, so at least he didn’t have to worry about it for now. 

He just had to find the time to tell his parents. 

Grimacing at that thought, he pushed it away when he entered the large hall, smell of food wafting in the air. He immediately spotted his friend, walking up to him. He was sitting next to a dark-haired woman, talking animatedly while the woman nodded meekly once in a while. 

“Stop scaring her,” Naruto said, gathering two pairs of eyes on him. He smiled, amused.

“Naruto!” Kiba said, standing up to grin at him, his canines showing. He then gestured him to sit down next to him. Patting his shoulder, he gestured to the woman. “I’m not scaring, Hinata! I’m being friendly.”

Hinata blushed deep red when her gaze met his. He gave her a careful smile, dimming it little from the amusement before. Kiba patted his shoulders again. 

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto,” he said, introducing himself with a small bow. 

Hinata immediately bowed a little as well. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, stuttering a few times as she kept her gaze away from his face. “I-I’m Hyuuga Hinata…N-nice to meet you.”

Hyuuga Hinata. 

There was familiarity with her name but he wasn’t sure why. Nodding, he said, “Nice to meet you too, Hyuuga-san.”

“A-Ah, you can c-call me Hinata,” she said, choking on her words as she turned as red as a tomato. 

A little worried the woman was going to burst, he quickly accepted it, not really minding the familiarity. He was never one for formality if he could help it. “You can call me Naruto then.”

“I-I see,” Hinata said, bowing her head. 

A little awkward with how she was acting, feeling guilty she looked so timid, he turned his attention to Kiba. His friend though had his eyes narrowed at him before he looked at Hinata. And then back at him. 

“What?” Naruto said, furrowing his eyebrows. He held back a yelp when Kiba looped an arm around his shoulder and forced him to bow a little so they could whisper at each other. 

“Stop charming my girl, man,” Kiba said, harshly. 

Naruto’s eyes widened. “Your girl?” he whispered back. 

“Yeah,” Kiba said, sounding a tad annoyed. “That’s why I asked you down here. To introduce her to you.”

Naruto pulled away from his touch, grinning at his friend. “You couldn’t have said it quicker?”

Kiba pouted before he looked at Hinata, tucking a hair behind her ear. Hinata spluttered as she stared at Kiba. Her face was now completely red. He supposed she was always this timid. 

“This is my girlfriend,” Kiba said. “As of last week.”

“Kiba-san…” Hinata squeaked before she bowed again at Naruto. 

Naruto, alarmed, bowed back. He chuckled. “Finally attached, huh? To a pretty girl too.”

Hinata covered her face, eliciting a coo from Kiba. A little amused at the couple, he stood up, deciding to give them a little privacy. Leaving them to buy food, he couldn’t help a grin from slotting on his face when he came back to Hinata giggling at whatever Kiba was saying. Placing his bowl of noodles on the table, he took a seat in front of the duo, eating. 

“Now that I’m with someone,” Kiba said as he tossed an arm across her shoulders. “You should too.”

“I didn’t realise I’m now allowed to get one now that you’re attached,” Naruto said, pointing his chopsticks at his friend, amused. 

Kiba rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. I never seen you date _anyone_ since we met. And that had been in high school! When we were fifteen, Naruto!”

The blond-haired man shrugged. “I’m a free spirit, Kiba!” Though, he wasn’t going to be one any longer. Not that he minded. As Sasuke’s face flashed in his mind, he paused in his eating. “Well…soon-to-be not free spirit.”

His friend slammed a hand on the table, shaking his bowl. “ _What_?” he screeched. 

Naruto swallowed, smiling at the gaping mouth and wide eyes on his friend. “Oh…I didn’t tell you.”

“What the,” Kiba said. “Do you have a girlfriend? When? Who is she? Yo, how dare you don’t tell me! I followed your ass here to be with my close friend and you didn’t even tell me?”

Naruto almost wanted to throw his chopsticks at his friend’s dramatics. But then again—that was why they were so close. He was as dramatic. His lips twitched upwards just imagining the times Sasuke had to endure both of their asses when they got into one of their mischievous moods. 

“It’s someone you know,” Naruto said, bemused. “It’s not a girl.”

Kiba paused, eyes searching his face. He leaned forward. “Wait, it’s a guy?”

“Yeah.” Naruto eyed him, waiting for a reaction. And that was what he got. He just didn’t expect _this_ response. 

“It’s Sasuke, isn’t it?” Kiba said, voice louder than necessary. Hinata touched his arm, her face blushing when people began looking at them for the noise. Scratching his cheek, he opened his mouth when Kiba shook his head. “It _is_ Sasuke!”

“How did you know?” Naruto was genuinely curious. This was the second time one of his closest friends had taken one look at them both and assumed something more than friendship. At the look of disbelief crossing Kiba’s face, he supposed this was the case as well. 

“ _How_ —I think the whole goddamn world knew how you two felt about each other,” Kiba said, blinking before he frowned. “The fact you two managed to remain as friends for so long is a miracle! Fucking finally! I can’t take another pining look from that monotonous asshole.”

“Don’t call him that,” Naruto said, frowning as slight irritation flared in his mind. He paused before he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “What does that even mean? We’re literally just friends.”

“Yeah, and I’m a cat lover,” Kiba said, eyebrows twitching as his grin sharpened. “Look, man, I’m just glad I won’t have to see you two eye fuck each other from across the room every time we meet up.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “We don’t eye fuck.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Kiba then dragged Hinata closer to him. “I have such stupid friends, Hinata.”

“Oi!” Naruto tossed the chopsticks lightly at Kiba then. “I don’t…Anyway, I’m getting married to him in a month’s time.”

As if he hadn’t tossed a huge news at his friend, he grabbed the chopsticks to once more shove the noodles into his mouth, coughing when Kiba left Hinata’s side to shake him, screaming confusion into his ear. 

“What do you mean married?” Kiba said, relenting only when Hinata had pulled his collar so Naruto wouldn’t actually choke and die. “Married? How long have you two been dating? Yo—”

“We aren’t dating,” Naruto said, gasping for air as he drank water from Hinata’s water bottle, handed to him by the worried woman. “He just proposed to me to keep his clan council from nagging at him and I accepted.”

Kiba looked at him like he had grown two heads. “He asked you to marry him…to keep his clan council from nagging him? So, he didn’t confess his undying love?”

Naruto huffed a breath. “No.” But he didn’t elaborate that he _suspected_ Sasuke harboured similar emotions for him. “I’m just helping a friend out. My parents have been nagging about my love life and seem happy enough I’m marrying him.” He shrugged, twisting the cap back on Hinata’s bottle before handing it back tot the dark-haired woman. “I can focus my energy on my thesis without listening to them nag and Sasuke can be without worries about the council either. Win-win.”

“Win-win my _ass_ ,” Kiba said, eliciting a confused noise from the blond-haired man. “He’s definitely taking advantage of the situation to tie you down, man! The next thing you know, he’s going to take your virginity on your wedding night!”

Naruto spluttered. “He said we won’t have to do shite unless I want to. Besides, how the fuck did you know I’m a virgin?”

“I’m your friend,” Kiba said, as if that explained it. He then leaned in close, eyeing Naruto’s face. “Do you _want_ to then? Fuck him.”

Naruto’s face heated up. “Leave me the fuck alone, man.”

“No way,” Kiba said as he looped an arm around his shoulders. “I’m gathering the rest of our friends tonight. Bring Sasuke with you.”

A sense of dread covered him. Grabbing Kiba’s arm, he pulled it away from his shoulders. “I don’t—”

“Texted the group chat,” Kiba said just as his phone dinged with a message. And then multiple other dings followed it. When Naruto took out his phone to check the messages, his eyes widened at what Kiba had sent. In all capital letters, the words ‘Naruto’s getting married to Sasuke in a month’s time! Let’s celebrate this tonight!’ flashed on the screen. Following it was his other friends, tossing back all big capitalised questions tossed into the group. 

When Sasuke texted him privately, he panicked. Sasuke was in the group chat as well! 

“Did you tell them about us?” Sasuke had typed. 

Naruto pondered on an answer before he replied back, “Yeah. Is that fine?”

“Yes.” The reply was short but it still managed to lessen the panicked tightness in his chest. A second later, Sasuke messaged him again. “Do I need to attend tonight?”

“Well, man, you gonna let me deal with the questions all by myself?” Naruto couldn’t help the amused snort when Sasuke chose not to reply to that. Instead, he simply said he would pick him up tonight. 

When he looked back up from his phone, he spotted Kiba leering at him. “And you tell me you’re just friends.”

It was then his cheeks began to hurt. He had been smiling this whole time? Shoving Kiba away from him, he pocketed his phone. “I’mma head back to the lab. I’ll see you tonight then.” He ignored his friend’s protest, smiling at Hinata when she nodded at him. 

When he reached his lab, he finally sighed. While he didn’t expect the reaction he got, he was relieved his friends were taking it well. Though, that left the question if they had always assumed something was up between him and Sasuke. Curiously, he didn’t mind that assumption. Just like when Sakura had told him flat out she thought they were dating, his heart squeezed in his chest at the thought his other friends might’ve thought the same. 

He chuckled.

***

When Sasuke had come to pick him up, Naruto had been busy tossing his laundry into his washing machine. Deciding to do some tiny chores here and there before getting bamboozled by his friends tonight sounded like a wise choice. He wasn’t even surprised anymore when Sasuke showed up at his door two hours before he was supposed to come by. Just opening the door to let him in, Naruto carried his dirty clothes to the washing machine located just past the kitchen. 

When Naruto glanced at him, his heart almost stopped beating at how Sasuke looked. With his tie loose on his chest, a few buttons of his white, long-sleeved shirt unbuttoned, his sleeves rolled up to halfway his lower arm and suit jacket now hanging on his arm—Sasuke was an image to revel at. His hair was messy, some of the strands now covered one side of his face as if the taller man had been running his fingers through those locks a million times today. 

“Wow, you look like a mess,” Naruto said, though he quietly kept it to himself that even looking like this, Sasuke was—beautiful. Cheeks flaring in heat, he looked back at his washing machine, dumping his clothes into it before closing its lid. “You okay to go tonight?”

“Fine,” Sasuke said. “I didn’t want to go home to shower. Can I do it here?”

It wasn’t an odd request. Once in a while, Sasuke would come by to crash for the night when he didn’t want to go home, preferring to shower here. It got to the point Naruto had told him to just bring a few of his clothes to place in his room so Sasuke had something to wear here for those times. He smiled, chest warming at the thought that without him noticing, Sasuke had really implanted himself into his life. 

“Go on,” Naruto said. “I’m making instant noodles. You want some?”

Sasuke immediately pulled a face. “Don’t eat when we’re about to go out, stupid.”

His best friend walked past him to his room. Naruto squawked. “You know I have a big appetite! Don’t be an asshole!” 

Mumbling curses at his friend, he couldn’t stop the grin itching to make itself known on his face. He had been smiling too much lately. 

When his washing machine started to rumble, he took a step back. Walking to his bedroom, he checked the laundry basket before he slapped his forehead; he still had some clothes in his bathroom. Pausing, he looked at the closed door of the bathroom, hesitating. 

A part of him didn’t want to enter there. Not when Sasuke was on the other side. 

But then a familiar, weird sensation in his chest bloomed, compelling his feet to move. The twice he had seen a glimpse of the pale skin had burned him up, turning him into a different shades of red. And he couldn’t figure out why. He had seen Sasuke shirtless a million times before and yet…these few days had been so wildly different. His heart hammered against his chest as he knocked on the bathroom door. 

Swallowing past the lump formed in his throat, he said, “Sasuke? I need to come in to grab the clothes I left in there.”

When there was no answer, he knocked again, harder. Sasuke still didn’t answer him. Taking in a deep breath, he contemplated if he should enter or not. Another flash of pale skin floated in his head and he decided against going in. Just as he was about to take a step back and leave; he would have to take his clothes once his friend was done with the bathroom, he didn’t expect for the door to swing open. He choked on nothing at the image before him. 

Sasuke’s pale skin was on full display, a blue towel wrapped dangerously low on his hip. And wearing nothing else. His hair was wet, rolls of water were dripping past his face and down his slender neck. Naruto followed the path of one droplet as it continued its way down his collarbones and down his chest. He could see slight definition of his abs, his throat drying. When hints of the towel appeared in his vision, he forced his eyes to look back at Sasuke’s face. 

The air between them shifted then. 

Dark eyes stared into his blue ones. 

The heat from his face travelled down his body, lighting up every fibre within him. He almost swayed closer when Sasuke raised his eyebrows. 

“Here,” Sasuke said, startling him out of his thoughts. In his hands were the clothes Naruto needed. Mixed with Sasuke’s own clothes. “You wanted this, right?”

“Y-yeah,” Naruto said, steadily breathing out. He took hold of the clothes, flinching when Sasuke’s fingers brushed against his hands. Pulling away as if he had been burned, he turned around, marching away without tossing another look at his friend. “I’ll toss these in the washing machine too.”

Once he was standing in front of his washing machine, dumping the clothes on top of it, he took in a few more lungful of air. Heart racing against his chest, Sasuke’s half-naked body flashed in his mind. Biting his bottom lip at the weird buzzing underneath his skin and the sudden urge to touch his friend, he focused his attention on the machine. 

“I thought you’re making instant noodles,” Sasuke said, his voice shocking Naruto. 

Snapping his gaze from the washing machine to his now—thankfully, clothed friend, he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he went to his kitchen cupboard. “Do you want one?”

Grabbing two instant noodle cups, he turned to show them to Sasuke when his breath hitched at the distance between them. Sasuke had been standing at the doorway when he walked to the cupboard and now he was—at most—five steps away from him. A pale hand reached to grab a cup from his hands. 

Sasuke’s lips quirked upwards, a familiar smirk on his face. “Where’s the tomatoes?”

On any other day, Naruto would have snapped at him that tomatoes didn’t belong in instant noodles but this time, he mutely nodded at the fridge. Sasuke turned to look at his small fridge, opening the door to bend down and grab the items. The blond-haired man took the time to pat his chest where his heart was rapidly beating. 

He had to get a grip! 

Boiling the water in his kettle, he hoped on the kitchen counter to sit on it, swinging his legs as he eyed his best friend puttering about in his kitchen like he owned it. “Hey, Sasuke,” Naruto said, causing the pale-skinned man to stop moving. The taller man had a chopping board in his hands, eyebrows raised in question. “When we get married, where are we living?”

Sasuke placed the chopping board on the counter next to Naruto before he stood in front of him. His momentary facade of calmness disappeared when his best friend lessened the distance between them, placing both hands on either side of his hips. Startled at the closeness, he rigidly stared back at him. 

What was he doing?

Sasuke glanced around them before he turned his attention back at the tan-skinned man. “We can keep this place. If you want. But it would best if you moved into my house. At least for half a year so the council is completely sold on us.”

Naruto nodded, absent-mindedly. This close, he could catalogue all of the sharp features on his friend’s face that he never noticed before. Those pink lips and sharp nose and high cheekbones. And when he had his hair down from no gel, Sasuke was nothing more than a normal man like himself. And that normality he trusted Naruto with was—overwhelming a tad. The realisation of it. 

“Are you okay?” Sasuke asked, frowning. When he touched Naruto’s face, cupping his cheek, the blond-haired man had wanted to lean into the touch completely. A frightening thought crossed his mind: if he leaned forward and pressed his head against Sasuke’s shoulder, would he still smell like the incense in his room or the soap from Naruto’s bathroom? “Naruto.”

“F-Fine!” Naruto said. “I’m fine. Fine by me living at your place too.”

Sasuke searched his face. “Okay. If you say so.”

When his friend finally moved away, Naruto allowed himself a few seconds to breathe. He then jumped down from the counter, relieved that the water was boiled. As he prepared the noodles and Sasuke went about ruining his with his tomatoes, the blond-haired man kept all the weird thoughts away from his consciousness. At least until tonight when he could afford to think about it more. He glanced at the wall clock in his living room from his kitchen. 

He suddenly didn’t feel like going out tonight. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. 
> 
> A/N: This has been fun to write! It's a pretty long chapter again but one that I think with a lot of progress! Not gonna say much here, just that thank you so much for all the support on this so far!! <3 I appreciate all the kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions and comments! Hope you like this too!

Naruto was right. He didn’t want to go out tonight. Not when his mind kept racing back to a shirtless Sasuke and the way he looked far handsomer than he had ever looked before. But he couldn’t tell his friend that, not when Sasuke was waiting for at the entrance of his apartment, ready to leave. Donning his hoodie, he slapped the taller man’s shoulder and got out of his place, taking in a deep breath as the evening wind blew at his face. His emotions were a mess and his nerves were frayed, but he was careful about letting that show on his face. Sasuke had always been able to read him like an open book and he couldn’t afford it right now. His heart squeezed in his chest as they quietly got to Sasuke’s car. 

It was only when he buckled himself up that Sasuke spoke, destroying the illusion that he had been pretending he was fine well. “Are you okay?”

“What?” Naruto said, leaning into his seat. 

“You look…” Sasuke said, trailing off as he kept his eyes firmly at the road in front of them. “Out of it.”

His heart skipped a beat, tossing an amused look that he didn’t feel at his friend. “I’m fine, man.” 

Sasuke didn’t reply to that and he didn’t do anything to continue the conversation. When the silence washed over them again, he forced his body to relax. It was out of character for him, he was sure. Not speaking for a long period of time wasn’t something that he did. He just couldn’t. But he would sacrifice his character for a few seconds of contemplation of his emotions and his thoughts on his friend. 

When they reached the barbecue restaurant that his friends usually gathered, he was nowhere closer to understanding the way his heart fluttered every time he looked at his friend than he had been at home. Getting out of the car was the easiest part, the apprehension building within him at the thought of having to see their friends and be questioned was going to be the hard part. He took in a deep breath as they walked into the restaurant, eyes scanning the place before a boisterous group caught his attention. 

There they were. 

Sasuke stood next to him, not making a move to near the loud group. Naruto didn’t either. Both of them stared at a few of their friends laughing, clicking their mugs together while one of them was stuffing their face with food. From afar, they looked like a bunch of carefree youths. If only people knew that they were nearing thirty soon. His shoulders relaxed at that thought. These were his friends, some he had known since high school.

They would be fine. 

Slapping Sasuke’s arm, he walked up to them. Standing before them, he grinned when a few pairs of eyes landed on him. Kiba choked on his beer before he grinned, his canines showing. Hinata was sitting next to him, slapping his back a little to subside his coughs. 

“Yo,” Naruto said, earning loud yelling, voices crossing one over the other. “You guys are fucking loud!” 

“Get your ass here,” Ino said, sitting closest to him.

She had her fingers wrapped around his wrist and pulled him down to sit next to her. Scrambling to not slam his head against the table, he pressed a hand on the wood, knees pressed on the cushion on the ground. 

“Can you not break him?” Sasuke’s voice silenced the group for a whole second before another wave of yelling echoed. 

They were lucky they were in the same old restaurant they always met for the past years, or else he was sure they would’ve gotten kicked out for being so noisy. Snorting under his breath, Ino’s grip left his wrist, allowing him to sit down properly. Sasuke had a monotonous look on his face as Chouji shifted away, giving a spot opposite of Naruto for him to sit. One that the taller man had taken without hesitation. 

“Look who finally showed up,” Kiba said. “The to-be-married couple.”

Naruto rolled his eyes as Ino handed him a mug of beer. Sasuke declined his when Chouji tried to give him one, asking for a glass of water instead. 

“What the fuck, man?” Ino said, grumbling as she shoved a cooked meat into her mouth. “How the hell did that happen? I thought you guys were just friends.”

Naruto shifted in his seat, his heart hammering against his chest at the look of curiosity being thrown at his direction. Sasuke eyed him but there was no crack in his mask. It was as good as he wasn’t being here if he wasn’t going to help. Tightening his grip on his mug, he shrugged, preferring that answer instead. 

“Sakura, you said you knew already,” Kiba said, nudging her. “Well?” 

Sakura was silent as she stared at him with an amused look on her face. Sasuke’s dark eyes landed at the woman, a certain emotion crossed his face. A displeased look now that Naruto eyed him closer. He didn't understand it but Sasuke had often disliked Sakura, going as far as forgetting she existed. Preferring to pretend that he never met her. 

He had tried to pry it out of his friend for his dislike at Sakura but he had only received a glare so hot that it shut him up. 

“Well,” Sakura said, smirking. “Naruto came to tell me first about it. That’s why I knew. Nothing else.”

Sasuke drank his water, looking at the meat instead. He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a few, ignoring the looks tossed at him as he placed those cooked meat on the blond-haired man’s plate. He paused for a few seconds. This never happened before. Sasuke never did this before. 

And he didn’t know why his chest tightened at that gesture. 

Taking in a shaky deep breath, he picked up his chopsticks, tossing a grateful smile at his friend. 

“I didn’t know you two were dating,” Shikamaru said, catching his attention. “I thought you would’ve been too coward to confess, Sasuke.”

Sasuke’s shoulders squared. The monotonous look broke then, just a tad for Naruto to see a flash of—alarm. Before the youngest Uchiha covered it up like he usually did. That mere look burned in his mind. His suspicions of how his friend felt for him seemed to be getting confirmed. Swallowing past the lump forming in his throat, he quietly ate the meat, ignoring the way the heavy gaze of his friends on them. 

“None of your business,” Sasuke said, his voice clipped. “If you’re looking for a romance story, it’s as simple as friends growing to become something more. That’s all.”

“Boo,” Ino said. “I mean, knowing it’s you both, I can see that. But _how_ did that happen? Didn’t you only date women, Sasuke?”

Sasuke huffed a suffering breath. “I don’t really care for gender.”

“Yo, man,” Kiba said, pointing a finger at the pale-skinned man. “You can’t just say that and not expect us to question! Married, man!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, looking back at his task of apparently piling Naruto’s plate full of food. Holding back an amused smile, he turned his attention to Hinata, who was quietly observing the scene and eating. Deciding it was time to shift the attention from them to the real couple in this room, he pointed at Kiba. 

“Speaking of couples,” he said. “Hey, Hinata.”

Sasuke snapped his head up to look at him before his dark eyes landed on the meek woman. 

“H-Hello, Naruto-san,” she said. 

“When did you two get familiar?” Ino said. “Can you believe this mutt got himself a beautiful girl?”

“You’re a Hyuuga,” Sasuke said, catching Hinata’s attention. 

Hinata blinked, her face flushing red before she looked at the table, nodding. “Y-Yes. It’s g-good to see you too, Uchiha-san.”

Sasuke frowned. “Yeah…”

It was then the name clicked in his mind. Ah yes! The council had mentioned that Itachi had been married to the Hyuuga clan. He never saw his wife but he at least knew the clan he was married into. No wonder Hinata’s family name sounded familiar. 

Sipping his beer, he said, “So, you two know each other?”

“How?” Chouji asked as he stuffed another meat into his mouth. 

“His older brother is married into the clan.” Naruto shrugged when Kiba whistled, tossing an arm across her shoulder. He couldn’t help but to say, “You can definitely do better than Kiba, Hinata.”

“Oi!” Kiba tossed a lettuce at him. “Don’t say that!”

He laughed, relaxing when the conversation turned away from him and Sasuke. He knew they would be questioned later, but he would rather the spotlight be away from them for a second. As he joined in the conversation to joke about Hinata and Kiba, he barely missed when Sasuke stood up, his phone against his ear. When he caught the dark eyes, the man nodded to outside of the shop, leaving him with a group of people who seemed to have been waiting for this moment. 

A hand clasped his shoulder then, startling him. He forced his eyes to break away from staring at Sasuke’s retreating back, unsure why his heart echoed in loneliness. 

Ino grinned, evilly. “Well, tell us. _Who_ made the first move?”

“You guys aren’t going to let this go, huh?” Naruto said, laughing nervously. “I thought Kiba would’ve told you guys the truth.”

Shikamaru snorted. “Called it.”

Naruto raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Fuck off, Shikamaru,” Ino said, slapping the back of his head. “Goddamn it, so you guys aren’t together?”

“We made a bet,” Sakura explained, rolling her eyes. “Shikamaru said you guys are getting married not because you guys are dating and some of us betted that you guys are.”

“Huh,” Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck. “Why the hell won’t we marry because we’re dating?” 

“Because you guys can’t hide shite,” Shikamaru said, huffing a breath. “None of you know how to hide shite. If you guys dated, we would know.”

A little offended by that, he said, “I’m a great secret keeper!”

Kiba laughed out loud, tossing peanuts his way, earning a spluttered reply from the blond-haired man. “Sure, man. You’re a goddamn open book.” 

“Sasuke _is_ a little hard to read,” Ino said. “But we’ve known each other since high school, except for some of us.” She gave a nod at Sakura and Shino, who had been quiet this entire time, staring at them behind his sunglasses. 

“What she’s trying to say is,” Kiba said. “We can tell Sasuke eye-fucks you.”

“Fucking stop saying that,” Naruto said, face heating up. “The fuck, man?”

“He’s not wrong,” Shikamaru said, shrugging when Naruto turned betrayed eyes at him. The only rational person in this group had been corrupted! “So, why are you both getting married?”

Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Unable to hide away anymore, he finally said, “His council’s been pressuring him to marry and he didn’t want to find someone who knows him well. So he asked me to marry him. And my parents’ been nagging me about my love life…and they seemed happy to know I’m marrying him so.” At the silence, he went back to drinking his beer. “You guys are a nuisance.”

“Hey, you’re lucky Lee isn’t here,” Ino said, breaking the quiet. “Expect that weirdo to knock down your door once he’s back from his business trip.”

Naruto grinned. He hadn’t seen Lee since he became a coach to a famous ice skater, often busy in Russia instead of here. He supposed he would have to handle the loud-mouth, passionate man when he came back. He couldn’t say he would mind it. Still, that wouldn’t probably go over well with Sasuke. 

“You do know Sasuke likes you, right?” Chouji said, patting his stomach. 

Ino nodded, snapping her fingers. “Even Chouji noticed it! And he only loves food!”

“Hey…” Chouji shrugged a second later when Ino stared at him. 

Naruto’s face heated up, his heart squeezed in his chest. He wasn’t _that_ oblivious. Not really. He just didn’t know what was in front of his eyes. _Especially_ what was right in front of his eyes. 

“I don’t think he likes me,” Naruto said, but his argument weakened at the eyes rolling in front of him. 

“Yeah and he doesn’t eye-fuck—” Kiba squawked when Naruto finally threw his chopsticks at him. Hinata pressed the back of her hand against her lips, shoulders shaking. “That’s dangerous!”

“Stop saying that shite!” Naruto hissed. 

“Say what?” Sasuke said as he appeared, startling him. 

His heart raced against his chest as panic crawled up his veins. He turned his attention at his friends, hoping that they wouldn’t say anything stupid. But it seemed like Sasuke’s presence was more than enough for them to shake their heads and change the subject. The taller man frowned before he took a seat in front of Naruto. He pointed at Naruto’s plate.

“Where did your chopsticks go?” he asked before he handed his own to the blond-haired man, not waiting for his answer. “Don’t be so careless, idiot.”

“Ya, don’t be so careless,” Kiba said, teasing. “Don’t want to worry your hubby.”

Naruto wished he could actually murder him without getting charged. Sasuke didn’t seem bothered by it as he took another pair of chopsticks from the tray of utensils in front of them. 

“So, Sasuke,” Ino said. “You happy to marry this one here?”

Sasuke glanced at her before he said, “Just okay.”

Naruto searched his friend’s face, but the reddening tips of his ears were a dead giveaway that he was lying. Flustered, he looked down at his food. When he looked up again, his breath hitched in his throat at the dark eyes on him. The emotions in them were strong, as if they were a ton of bricks on his body. It rendered him breathless. 

Eye-fucking, Kiba had called it. 

But Naruto didn’t think that was what this look was. 

He silently ate, now more than desperate for some alone time for the first time in his life. 

When they were all ready to leave at the end of the night, some no longer sober, Naruto was relieved. When they got into the car, ignoring the leer and whistles being tossed at his back by none of his normal friends, he sighed, leaning against his seat. Sasuke didn’t say anything much during dinner…and he still didn’t now. Turning his gaze at the man, he took in his side profile. 

How had he not noticed how beautiful he looked? 

A nagging thought at the back of his mind had him thinking he had—once. Once and he had repressed it so deep down, he never looked back at it. Chalking it up to him being jealous of his looks. But no…that wasn’t it, was it?

When his hands reached to touch his cheek, grazing a finger down his soft, pale-skin, Sasuke tensed. The dark eyes met his blue ones and they were locked staring at each other. His heart skipped a beat. Breathless, thoughts that he didn’t think he had about his friend threatened to flash through his mind. About his face, his smile, his eyes—and the little ways he took care of him that Naruto hadn’t even _realised_. 

“Fuck,” Naruto whispered. 

Sasuke touched his hand, grasping his fingers. The touch startled him from his reverie. His eyes widened, choking in his words. He didn’t have an excuse for touching Sasuke. Tongue-tied, he made a questioning sound when Sasuke leaned in close. Their noses brushed, the warmth of his breath hit his face. Naruto knew rationally that he would have to pull away. They were just friends. 

When their noses brushed a little more, Naruto found himself leaning into the touch. Even through the darkness, he could take in the shade of his friend’s eyes. They weren’t completely black, a little shards of hazel in them. They were beautiful just like everything about the man. 

“You okay?” Sasuke said, voice quiet. 

He wanted Sasuke to kiss him. 

And that thought finally had him pulling away, swallowing back down a gasp. He carefully took his hand away from Sasuke’s touch, even though he wanted to touch him immediately the second he lost the warmth. 

“F-fine,” Naruto whispered, realisation that the car was still parked in front of the restaurant crashed over him. “Just tired.”

Sasuke stared at him for a few more seconds before he pulled away, nodding. “Okay.”

Naruto was glad when his friend made no move to ask anymore questions. He didn’t think he would be able to handle them at the moment.

***

He stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, shrouded in darkness except for the bedside lamp that was currently emitting a yellow glow. Before Sasuke could open his mouth, Naruto had thanked him for the drive and left him, rushing back into his apartment like his metaphorical tail had been on fire. He didn’t want his best friend to ask if he could stay for the night. While on other days he would’ve been fine with it, tonight was not it. Not when his heart was hammering against his chest and his face was _still_ hot. Taking in a shuddering deep breath, he closed his eyes, only to snap them wide open when Sasuke’s naked chest flashed behind his eyelids. 

Cursing, he sat up, running his fingers through his hair. 

What was this tight feeling in his chest? 

Why was he so at ease with Sasuke? 

Why hadn’t he realised how easy it was for him to let his friend into his life? 

What seemed like normality now was jarringly bizarre. Dropping his hands to his sheets, he tightened his fingers on them. Sasuke would’ve told him he was an idiot when it came to all matters of the heart but he was not. He was well aware that there was something else going on between them. 

It wasn’t friendship. At least, not anymore. Not just that. 

Kiba’s words echoed in his head and so did the words of his other friends, all saying the same thing; Sasuke liked him. More than a friend. 

He lay back down to look at the ceiling, his heart was nearly bursting through his ribcage. 

The fact that it didn’t sound farfetched that Sasuke might harbour more than friendly feelings for him was tad terrifying. 

As he placed an open palm on his chest, he forced himself to think about his own feelings. 

When he had been a pre-teen, Sasuke had been that quiet kid who didn’t know anyone else. Newly transferred and with looks that shocked all the girls in his class into a squealing mess—he had been drawn to him too. It was merely curiosity at first. Bugging Sasuke every day since he met the boy until they turned fourteen and he managed to wrangle a ‘we’re friends, stupid’ from Sasuke—it was his most precious memories. 

Somewhere along the way, he had felt…something more. 

He knew he did. 

His first wet dream was about Sasuke. 

Face burning, he covered his eyes with his other arm. It was the first time he even experienced the way the pit of his stomach heated up and spread throughout his body, leaving him aching and in need of _something_ when he woke up from a vivid dream of Sasuke. He still remembered what that dream was until today. How could he not? 

Sasuke had been holding him down and giving him that stupid smirk he often hated before pressing his lips against his, hands roaming about his naked body before fingertips travelled lower—

Naruto slapped his right cheek. The familiar warmth rushed over him, concentrating at the pit of his stomach once more. Squirming, he pressed his balled up fists at his sides, refusing to do anything about his slowly tightening jeans. 

He had been sixteen when he had his first wet dream and it had been about his best friend. 

And then he had shoved that thought to the back of his head and never looked back because this was Sasuke. He was his best friend. He couldn’t look at him with such eyes. So he never did. He called it a fluke and moved on with his life, not interested in women or men alike, not even interested in the idea of dating. He threw himself in work and studies until the day Sasuke showed up at his door at the age of nineteen and told him that he lost his virginity to a fox-spirit-creature woman he had been dating for the past three months. 

Naruto bit his bottom lip. 

He had been…furious. He had been angry at Sasuke. There was a tiny part of him that had felt betrayed. 

And he didn’t know why. 

All that he knew was that after Sasuke had gone home after his chat about his first time with Naruto, the blond-haired man had sat on his living room couch, alone and had tears in his eyes, his heart feeling like it had been broken to pieces. 

Fuck. 

And even then he refused to acknowledge it. 

Sitting up once more, the warmth in his body left to make way for something colder. 

A realisation was dawning on him. Slowly at first before it hit him like a truck. 

He had been in love with Sasuke. And he _still_ was. 

And…somewhere along the way, Sasuke liked him too. He didn’t know how it started or if he was even a hundred percent sure that his best friend felt the same—but he knew that the way Sasuke looked at him wasn't how friends looked at each other. 

“Fuck, I _am_ an idiot,” he whispered to himself. “I’ve been such an idiot.”

Thirteen years. He had been fooling himself for thirteen years, skirting the edges of his feelings out of fear. Out of fear that he would lose Sasuke if he even let himself fall. And now that he was seeing signs—convincing himself that Sasuke wanted him too—even asked him to marry him…he was letting himself fall. 

It was scary, this realisation. 

But it was also freeing. Because now he knew why his heart squeezed in his chest at the soft look on his friend’s face and the bitterness that sparked in him every time Sasuke dated another woman. Biting his bottom lip, he had to know if Sasuke _truly_ liked him back. 

He needed to find a way to open that up to him.

***

Naruto stood in front of the vending machine, picking a drink. He decided to take an hour break before he went back to his lab. Hands in his lab coat, he picked a lemon drink, smiling when the machine dispensed it without any problems this time. Good. He didn’t want to battle against it again. 

Bending down to grab the drink, he stood up to turn around, only to be startled when a woman stood close to him. Yelping, he took a step back. Her own eyes widened, cheeks dusting in pink as she stared at him. 

“Woops,” he said, giving her an awkward laugh. “Didn’t see you there.”

“N-no, it’s fine,” she said, giving him a smile. “I…I was looking for you.”

Naruto blinked, standing straighter. “Uhm…” He didn’t know this woman. He didn’t think she was in the same class as he was either. “Me?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding as she looked to the ground for a few seconds before she looked back at him. “I would like to say something to you, Uzumaki-san.”

“You know my name?” His question caused her face to redden even more. “I mean…”

“Y-yes,” she said, her voice tad quiet. “I’m Nakamura Ayame. I…hope you don’t mind me taking five minutes of your time. I just want to talk to you about something.”

A little curious since he didn’t really have people coming up to him wanting to speak to him, he nodded. He supposed he could use his time in the company of another human. He pointed to the empty chairs and table right in front of the vending machine. “Ah, okay, Nakamura-san. Want to talk there?”

She looked taken aback. As if she hadn’t expected Naruto to let her speak. A little amused, he smiled at her and moved to sit at one of the tables. Opening his can and sipping on his drink, he gave her another smile when she sat in front of him. Her face was now as red as a tomato. 

“So,” Naruto said. “What is it?”

She flinched before she looked at the table. When she finally placed her attention on him, alarm bells rang in his mind. He briefly tensed before he forced himself to relax. He had an inkling on what he had walked himself into. This had been a rare sight, but one that he had experienced. Back in high school, mostly. Behind the school building in front of a sakura tree; an infamous spot for students to confess. 

And he had found himself there once or twice, all ending with the women crying and in one instance, a slap across his face. 

Scratching his cheek, he went back to sipping his drink, averting his gaze to the vending machine. This situation had the same vibe. 

“Uzumaki-san,” she said, catching his attention. “I…I’m…I know we don’t know each other. And that we’re not in the same course. But…I’ve seen you on campus often. Especially on my first day here, I know you don’t remember it, but you helped me pick up the papers when someone had bumped into me on the way to the campus cafe one time. And…you had been very kind and…”

Ah, he _did_ remember helping a scared looking woman, the papers in her hand flying everywhere as some dude rushed past by her without even stopping. He had gone to help, Sasuke waiting for him as he rolled his eyes when he said he had to help her. 

“And Uzumaki-san, afterwards…it’s like everywhere I went, I saw you,” she said. “And before I know it, my eyes followed you and I kept looking for you in every room I entered. And then…it developed into these feelings and…” She took in a deep breath before she bowed her head. “Please go out with me! I would like to get to know you better.”

Naruto choked on his drink. He guessed it. He was right. Placing his can on the table, he coughed a few times, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Fuck. His throat burned. Once he made sure he didn’t hack his lungs out, he looked at Nakamura, noting the hopeful eyes at him. He took her in. Petite, fair-skinned and eyes that were so bright that he was sure they would mesmerise him if he let himself believe it. She was beautiful. Unconventionally, but she had her beauty to her. 

But. 

She was not Sasuke. 

He looked down to the table, gathering the right words in his mind. The longer he kept silent, the dimmer the hope in her eyes became. And it hurt him to hurt someone else. He hated rejecting people. But it had to be done. Giving her a sad smile, a remorseful one, he saw the hope in her face shatter. 

“That’s…I appreciate it,” Naruto said. “But…I can’t. I’m sorry.” 

He bowed his head a little. 

She bit her bottom lip, her eyes filled with sadness. “I…I know I’m a stranger. But if you give me a chance, I’ll try my best to be a good girlfriend and—”

“I’m getting married,” Naruto said, voice soft. “I love the person I’m marrying. I’m sorry.”

When he saw the tears in her eyes, he could only stand up, deciding to give her the space to process this. Apologising one last time, he left her there. It was only when he turned to a corner that he felt a headache blooming at the back of his head. Fuck. Swallowing the rest of his drink, he crushed the can and tossed it into a rubbish can nearby. 

Why was it him that these nice women fell for? 

Scratching the back of his neck, he stopped himself. 

Why did Sasuke like him?

Old self-doubts that he had forced himself to swallow down started bubble in his mind. Rubbing a hand down his face, he walked away from there, ignoring the guilt at hurting another person. He prayed silently that she would move on from him and find someone who would love her back. Because he couldn’t be that person. 

He couldn’t even figure out his own feelings until yesterday. 

As he entered his lab, he couldn’t help but to wonder what Sasuke would think of this. All this while when he got his confessions from random women, what had the man felt? 

Had he felt as hurt as Naruto had been? 

Had he been jealous like he had been?

Biting his bottom lip, he shook his head and focused back on his cultures.

***

Naruto opened the door to his apartment, letting the taller man inside as he moved back to his living room. Slumping on his couch, he slid to the floor. His coffee table was covered with papers and his laptop ran statistical programs as he looked at his lab results. He kept his emotions in check, having had three hours to prepare himself when Sasuke texted him that he was bringing dinner over. Glancing at the taller man who was in his work attire and walking into the kitchen, a smile decorated his lips. 

When Sasuke came back with two bowls of ramen, he placed one in front of him while he sat in front of him. Clearing up the table, Naruto grabbed his ramen and slurped on the broth first. For a few seconds, the only sound that broke the silence were the two of them eating. After his third shove of noodles into his mouth, Naruto finally dared himself to really take in his best friend. 

His dark hair was still sticking to one side heavily from the gel, but a few strands had dropped near his right eye, framing his face in a good just-finished-with-my-work look. When those dark eyes met his across the coffee table, his heart hammered against his chest. Face heating up, he looked back at his laptop, staring at the number as he ate. 

He knew that this would be a good time to ask Sasuke questions about how he felt. To poke and prod him for an answer. 

At the end, he could only swallow his noodles and say, “How’s work?”

“Good,” Sasuke said, quietly. “How’s your lab work?”

“Good.” He grinned when his best friend huffed a breath. “Didn’t think I’d see you today.” 

_Not after yesterday’s weirdness from me_. 

Sasuke hummed. “I didn’t want to go back home just yet.” After a beat he said, “Also you were acting weird yesterday.”

Naruto froze for a second before he forced himself to relax. His heart skipped a beat when Sasuke narrowed his gaze at him. This was his way of looking after Naruto, wasn’t it? That was why he bought him ramen from his favourite restaurant without another fuss. His heart squeezed in his chest, warmth covering every inch of him at that. Face heating up even more, he bit his inner cheek from smiling wide like an idiot. 

“It was just,” Naruto said before he shrugged. “Nothing. I had a lot on my mind yesterday.”

“You?” Sasuke said, deadpanning. That earned a glare from Naruto. “What is it?”

“What?”

“What occupied your brain so much until you looked like you wanted to kiss me?” Sasuke’s lips stretched into a smile when Naruto spluttered. 

“Fuck you, man,” Naruto said, flustered. “I…Who wants to kiss you?”

Sasuke only raised his eyebrows. Naruto wisely didn’t comment that he _did_ want to kiss him now that he was aware of his feelings. That would be for when he had confirmed Sasuke felt the same way. When Nakamura’s confession crossed his mind, he decided this was the right time to gauge if what he suspected was true. He needed to know. 

“Say,” Naruto said. “Guess who became Mr Popular again today?”

Sasuke frowned. “What?” 

Naruto rolled his eyes before he placed his ramen aside. Pressing both of his arms on the coffee table, he leaned forward to really take in Sasuke’s face. Those dark eyes mesmerised him and the pink lips that was now sporting a small tilt downwards looked almost adorable on him. He smirked. 

“I got a confession today,” he said. “She saw me around campus and fell for me.”

Sasuke sat straighter at that. “Oh.” 

Naruto took in his reactions closer. There was a flash of something in those eyes. Something—dark but they disappeared as if it wasn’t there. The tenseness on the shoulder lessened and Sasuke mirrored his smirk as if he hadn’t looked like he hated it. If Naruto hadn’t been paying attention, he wouldn’t have seen it. 

Had Sasuke always did this?

“Was she pretty?” he asked, instead. “Must be ugly if she found your face to be handsome.”

“Hey!” Naruto frowned, leaning back. “She was pretty, fucker.”

Sasuke hummed, dropping his gaze to eating. “Sure.”

“She had these big, round eyes and long hair. She was petite too. And her voice was very soft,” Naruto said, absent-mindedly listing out whatever he noticed about her—and whatever else that popped into his mind. “When she blushed, she was so cute. Her cheeks just puff up too when she looked so hopeful.”

“And?” Sasuke said, snapping his head to look at him. His monotonous mask was firmly on his face but Naruto had been looking for any signs that would disturb that. “You like that?”

There it was. That darker hint of his tone that had sent a shiver running down his spine. Naruto’s throat dried at the way Sasuke’s eyes glinted in something unspeakable. It was a clear sign that he should retreat if he didn’t want to know what that look meant. 

But he needed to know and he could almost taste the answer. 

“She was cute,” Naruto said, voice faking casualness. “If I wasn’t going to be married to you, I would’ve said yes to her.”

Sasuke remained quiet for a few seconds. Naruto was almost sure he was about to get the reaction he was hoping for when that jaw clenched tight and those hands bawled around his chopsticks like he was close to throwing it away. But when Sasuke simply took in a deep breath and ate his noodles, it was clear the man had gathered his patience again. 

Dang…Sasuke was good at this. 

Slightly frustrated, he stood up to move to the kitchen. 

How long had Sasuke kept his feelings hidden from him to be so masterful at this?

“Wonder what would happen if I told him I said yes,” Naruto muttered as he grabbed a glass from the rack. 

Just as his fingers clasped it, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist. Warmth plastered against his back as he was pushed forward against the edge of his counter. Startled, he placed a hand on the cool marble while his other hand pulled away from the glass. His eyes widened as he took in the position he was in. Glancing downwards, he spotted pale skin. 

Sasuke. 

Warm breath brushed at his shoulder. “I would’ve actually kissed you if you said yes to her.”

The voice was low, vibrating through his ears and settling deep in his brain. Breath hitching, he rigidly allowed his best friend to adjust his grip around his waist while pressing his chin on his shoulder. For a few seconds, the blond-haired man waited for something to happen. But when it seemed like Sasuke was content to be this close to him, he relaxed in his embrace. His heart skipped a beat when the pale-skinned man pressed his nose against the side of his neck. 

“What…what are you doing?” Naruto whispered, his breath hitching further when that cold nose pressed against the juncture of his neck and shoulder. “Sasuke?”

“You knew, didn’t you?” Sasuke said, voice quiet. But it didn’t stop a shiver from running down his spine at the warmth blowing against his sensitive, heated skin. Fuck. “That I had more than friendly feelings for you.”

Not wanting to beat around the bush, he said, “I suspected. Everyone was telling me how you eye-fuck me every time you look at me…”

Sasuke chuckled, amusement clear in his voice. “They aren’t wrong.”

Naruto’s eyes widened before he forced Sasuke to move aside as he turned around to face him. The pale hands gripped his waist, tight. The touch stole his breath. The back of his neck heated up at the warm look Sasuke was sporting. It was…it was the same look he saw once in a while. This time, that look didn’t wane away. Not even when Naruto touched his face with both of his hands, thumbs caressing his skin. 

“How long?” Naruto whispered. “That you liked me that way?”

“Love,” Sasuke said, placing a hand on one of Naruto’s. “I’m in love with you. For a long time now.”

Those words had him squirming where he stood, his heart threatening to burst in his chest. “Yeah?” Naruto said as his eyes dropped to his lips. “You love me?”

“More than you can imagine,” Sasuke said, voice quiet and shaky, almost. As if he was as nervous as him. “Naruto…”

“So you marrying me,” Naruto said. “The council—”

“The council is a pain in the ass and you are still the only choice for me to marry,” Sasuke said. “Even if I’m not in love with you, I would've chosen you.”

Naruto couldn’t help but to grin at that. “Bastard, I’m that of a catch, huh?”

Sasuke eyed him. He took a step closer until their bodies were flushed. Naruto’s grin dimmed into a soft smile as he placed both hands on his shoulder, grasping the muscle underneath the shirt. He was firm and his body only further heated up at the thought of how he would feel to touch his naked skin. Biting his bottom lip, he turned his attention to his right hand on his shoulder. A thumb touched his bottom lip, pulling it out from his teeth. 

They stared at each other for a few seconds more before Naruto leaned in close, their noses brushing. A smile crawled on his lips when those pale cheeks pinked. Cradling the taller man’s jaw, he pulled him close until their lips brushed. They didn’t move for a moment, enjoying the way their lips pressed against each other. And then Sasuke pressed him closer before angling his head to a side and kissed him fully on his mouth. And Naruto did the same. 

Their first kiss was in the kitchen of his small apartment, far less of a romantic setting but one that still had him breathless. 


End file.
